FIRST PERSON/OPINION:

A. Barrister, the noted Joint Venture lawyer who has periodically commented on the Edmondson v. AMA case, has commented on the AMA’s press release announcing its settlement with Roger Edmondson for $3 million.

The announcement of the settlement comes just months after the AMA heralded an appeals court ruling requiring a retrial on damages, spinning the decision as being a great victory. Which begs the question, if it was a great victory, and if they really didn’t do anything wrong, why are they now paying Roger Edmondson $3 million?

But on to A. Barrister’s comments:

“The AMA’s press release quotes AMA Chairman Rick Gray as saying ‘Our efforts to settle this matter when it first arose were unsuccessful and resulted in the lawsuit.’

“The Edmondson case has given the AMA many opportunities to practice the art of bamboozling its members, and this final statement from Mr. Gray is a truly masterful example. Mr. Gray omits that the AMA never made a reasonable settlement offer prior to the lawsuit. In fact, Judge Thornberg specifically ruled that the AMA had never made a reasonable settlement offer when he ordered the AMA to pay all of the costs of the lawsuit (including Edmondson’s attorneys fees) and the appellate court found no error in that ruling.

“Mr. Gray’s statement is the rhetorical equivalent of the German government issuing a press release to its people after losing World War II and saying ‘Our efforts to settle our differences with England were unsuccessful and resulted in our conflict.'”

A. Barrister



Speaking in the Road America pressroom June 9, AMA spokesman Larry Lawrence denounced the above opinion piece as being biased and unfair, specifically objecting to what he said was comparing the AMA to Hitler and Germany.

Terms of the settlement agreement specifically barred Edmondson from commenting on the case before the close of business Monday, giving the AMA time to spin the settlement.