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For UTU Members

As a member of the UTU, you may know something about the recent embarrassing scandal involving two past presidents of the UTU and others. As a result of illegal contributions from lawyers to UTU officers, two past presidents of the UTU and others were indicted and have been sentenced by U.S. federal district court. (See the press release of U.S. Attorney's office concerning sentencing here.) As a further result of these indictments and the criminal and corrupt behavior of some persons, many UTU designated legal counsel have been de-designated and these attorneys no longer represent the UTU. For example, almost all of the UTU designated legal counsel in Texas have lost their designations. It is our understanding that all of the former UTU designated legal counsel who have recently been de-designated because of the scandal and indictments were de-designated because they were forced to admit in sworn testimony before a grand jury that they had made illegal contributions to UTU officers.

From about 1985 to 1996, Doug Matthews of The Matthews Law Firm was a UTU Designated Legal Counsel. He had succeeded his former partner, George Schmidt, who is now deceased. George Schmidt had also been a Designated Legal Counsel for the UTU since 1969 when the UTU was formed and George had also represented some of the railroad Brotherhoods prior to 1969. Thus, prior to 1996 and for about 80 years, The Matthews Law Firm and its predecessor law firms had represented the UTU and its predecessor unions. In 1996, Doug Matthews withdrew as a Designated Legal Counsel for the UTU because he refused to make an illegal contribution to a candidate who was campaigning to become a UTU officer. Doug Matthews and The Matthews Law Firm were not involved in the recent scandal or the indictments filed by the U.S. Attorney involving the UTU. Doug Matthews and The Matthews Law Firm have always been proud to represent the UTU as well as railroad workers on their FELA cases. Prior to the recent scandal and indictments, the UTU and its predecessor unions had a clean record and, to our knowledge, there had never previously been any criminal indictments of officers of the UTU or its predecessor unions.

The new president of the UTU has taken several steps to clean up the UTU. The new UTU president's program will return the UTU to its prior position of integrity and credibility so that everyone will again be proud to be a member of the United Transportation Union.

If you are considering employing an attorney to represent you on a FELA claim, it is suggested that you first determine whether the attorney you are considering was recently de-designated as a UTU Designated Legal Counsel because of his involvement with the corrupt and illegal practices that resulted in federal criminal indictments. In addition to FELA skill and experience, the integrity of the lawyer who represents you on an FELA case may affect the outcome of your case.