Investments Stop Calif. High Court From Hearing Lockheed Case
Because four of seven justices on the California Supreme Court own stock in Lockheed Martin or companies that provided related materials, they can’t hear an appeal involving several dozen workers who say they were injured by chemical exposure.
The case is the talk of the state appellate bar, but Chief Justice Ron George says it is a very unusual situation that shouldn’t recur, reports the Associated Press.
One solution to such issues would be to require the justices to put their stock holdings into a blind trust. But George says that California’s Administrative Office of the Courts has recognized this isn’t possible, because justices need to monitor their investment portfolios, the news agency notes. Also, under state law they need to know what investments they hold, so they can recuse themselves if there is a conflict, he adds.
Regardless of the rationale, the appeal of the case now is stymied for lack of a court to hear it.
“It’s unfair, and I am very disgusted with the courts,” says plaintiff Braxton Berkley, a Pacoima, Calif., minister who claims his Cold War-era work at Lockheed exposed him to chemicals that caused health problems including arthritis and diabetes. “A lot of my friends died because of the toxic chemicals we handled,” he says.
