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Texas Judge Dismisses Fabricated $2 Billion Lawsuit Against DaimlerChrysler

19 May 2000

Texas Judge Slams San Antonio Lawyers and Fines Plaintiff's Attorneys Almost a Million Dollars
    AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - A Texas judge dismissed a $2 billion product liability 
lawsuit against DaimlerChrysler Corporation today and slapped three San Antonio 
lawyers with a record $920,000 fine after ruling that they had tampered with 
evidence and attempted to bribe witnesses in an effort to manufacture a lawsuit 
against the automaker.

    In an extraordinary rebuke, Texas District Court Judge David Peeples
assessed sanctions against Robert Kugle, Trey Wilson and Andrew Toscano of the
Kugle Law Firm and indicated that he would report the attorneys to the Bexar
County District Attorney and the State Bar of Texas.

    "This is the most flagrant example of misconduct I've seen in more than 20
years as a lawyer," said DaimlerChrysler Associate General Counsel Ken
Gluckman.  "While these sanctions are appropriate compensation for
DaimlerChrysler, we hope the District Attorney and State Bar of Texas
seriously review the judge's ruling and consider whether criminal charges are
warranted and whether these three individuals should be allowed to continue to
practice law."

    The initial lawsuit arose out of a tragic accident near Sabinas,
Coahuaila, Mexico in June 1996.  Of the seven people riding in the five
passenger 1995 Dodge Neon, four were killed in a high speed rollover accident.
None of the deceased were belted, and all of them were riding in the back
seat.

    Following the accident, Bridgett Fabila told two Mexican police officers
and a Red Cross official who transported her to a hospital that her husband
had fallen asleep at the wheel while driving and then drifted into the
oncoming lane of traffic.  She and her husband subsequently both jerked the
steering wheel, causing the Neon to lose control and then roll over several
times.

    After filing suit against DaimlerChrysler, Mrs. Fabila attempted to recant
her admissions and to blame the automaker for the accident.  This set off a
bizarre chain of events which ultimately led to the discovery that the Kugle
Law Firm had engaged in extensive fraud, evidence tampering, and witness
tampering including bribery and intimidation in order to build a phony case
against DaimlerChrysler.

    Evidence Tampering.  On July 6, 1998, Tom Persing, an expert hired by the
Kugle Law Firm, inspected the Dodge Neon and found no defect with the vehicle.
Photographs taken by Persing show the steering decoupler completely intact.
All the attorneys were present at the inspection and Mr. Kugle and Mr. Wilson
were specifically informed by Mr. Persing that there was no defect.  On
September 3, 1998, another expert for plaintiffs inspected the vehicle and
found the steering decoupler was separated.  Plaintiffs produced photographs
from that inspection but never produced Mr. Persing's photographs.  The Kugle
Law Firm repeatedly tried to hide Persing's exonerative photographs from
DaimlerChrysler -- which presented irrefutable proof that the Neon had been
tampered with -- and defied two separate court orders to produce the Persing
evidence.

    Bribery and Intimidation.  Despite repeated requests by the Kugle Law Firm
to block their testimony, Officers Hector Morales and Marco Villanueva of the
Mexican Highway Patrol testified that Enrique "Henry" Saldivar, an
investigator hired by the Kugle Law Firm, attempted to bribe them in exchange
for "forgetting" crucial testimony about the circumstances of the accident.

    Red Cross Official Javier Ramirez testified that Saldivar attempted to
intimidate him with threats that family members were being investigated.
Throughout the case, Kugle lawyers fought vigorously to prevent these
witnesses from testifying.

    When their fraud was exposed, Kugle attorney Trey Wilson told his expert,
Tom Persing, "we were running a bluff, and they called our hand."
DaimlerChrysler's Ken Gluckman said "Wilson's comments reflect the cavalier
attitude this firm has toward the law.  Millions of dollars are at stake, the
reputation of a corporation is at stake, and these guys think they are playing
a game."

    "Frankly, I view this outrageous conduct as an unfortunate byproduct of
our legal system gone awry," said Gluckman.  "When plaintiffs' lawyers
routinely reap legal fees in the millions or even tens of millions at the end
of these cases, it creates an 'anything goes' attitude that makes our system
ripe for abuse."

    In recent years, DaimlerChrysler Corporation has taken an increasingly
hard line against abusive plaintiffs' lawyers.

    In September 1998, DaimlerChrysler won an $800,000 judgment against two
St. Louis lawyers who had illegally removed confidential documents while
employed at one of the company's outside defense counsels.  The attorneys then
attempted to use the documents to file class action lawsuits against the
company.

    In November 1999, DaimlerChrysler filed suit against a Philadelphia law
firm which had sued the company even though their plaintiff had never been
injured in a DaimlerChrysler vehicle and had never even owned the vehicle they
claimed was defective.