Leftover class-action funds will honor Teitelman, aid students and the poor

A pot of nearly $3.8 million left over from a decade-long class action lawsuit will honor the legacy of the late Missouri Supreme Court Judge Richard B. Teitelman by providing legal services for poor and elderly people and educating law students in St. Louis.

Attorneys Max Margulis, of the Margulis Law Group of Chesterfield, in February distributed the funds to Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, the Washington University School of Law and the Saint Louis University School of Law during a ceremony at Meyerkord & Meyerkord in St. Louis.

Teitelman, who died Nov. 29, 2016, had extensive ties with each of the three organizations during his career, Margulis said. The judge attended law school at Washington University and worked for nearly a quarter-century with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, where he served as executive director and general counsel from 1980 until 1998.

The presentations represent cy prés awards — court-approved distributions of funds remaining from a class action settlement to charitable institutions. Margulis represented the class with Brian J. Wanca, of Anderson + Wanca in Rolling Meadows, Illinois and Phillip A. Bock of Bock, Hatch, Lewis & Oppenheim in Chicago. Margulis said the funds stemmed from a 10-year-old telecommunications case involving advertising flyers faxed without the permission of those who received them.

“We were able to locate a good amount and did everything we could to distribute [the money] to claimants [in the lawsuit].This was the money that was left over” after exhausting efforts to locate other class members, Margulis said. The court approved distributing the remaining funds to LSEM and the law schools in January, he said.

LSEM, which provides legal services for poor and elderly people in 21 counties, represents the largest beneficiary of the awards, receiving nearly $2.8 million. Executive Director and General Counsel Daniel Glazier said $1 million will be used to create the Richard B. Teitelman Fund, which will support a new attorney position at LSEM.

When Margulis and Wanca approached LSEM about the prospect of a cy prés award from the proceeds of their case, they also issued a challenge, offering a 4-to-1 match of funds LSEM raised itself for the position, Glazier said.

“We engaged the community that gets and appreciates what we do, and also those who appreciated Judge Teitelman,” he said. “People really stepped up, more than 200 of them. The fact that we can name the chair after Judge Teitelman is very fitting, in that no one cared more about these needs.”

The result: $256,000 in community funds, which triggered the $1 million match. At the ceremony, Margulis also surprised Glazier and other LSEM officials with a second oversized check for nearly $1.8 million for other legal-service operations.

“I’ve been doing this for 36 years, but days like this don’t come along very often,” Glazier said. ”The needs of the people we serve are so large. Whenever you have the opportunity to increase resources and provide more services, it’s a wonderful day for justice.”

The Saint Louis University School of Law received $400,000 for a fund honoring Teitelman that will provide stipends for law students to assist LSEM clients. The Washington University School of Law also received $400,000 for its public-service stipend fund named for Teitelman, for which it raised an additional $250,000.

Both law schools each received an additional $100,000 for their law clinics, to be used to assist consumers in metropolitan St. Louis.

The cy prés presentations came a day after LSEM learned it would receive $100,000 over two years from the St. Louis Development Corporation, to be used for another new attorney who will focus on returning abandoned properties to productive use. The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis also is contributing to that effort.

“It was a big week for us … but that’s OK,” Glazier said, laughing. “We’re here every day, doing what we do.”