A metal (from Greek "μέταλλον" – métallon, "mine, quarry, metal"^[1][2]) is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light.^[3] In a metal, atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions (cations). Those ions are surrounded by de-localized electrons, which are responsible for the conductivity. The solid thus produced is held by electrostatic interactions between the ions and the electron cloud, which are called metallic bonds.^[4]

[edit] Definition

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Metals are sometimes described as an arrangement of positive ions surrounded by a sea of delocalized electrons. Metals occupy the bulk of the periodic table, while non-metallic elements can only be found on its right-hand side. A diagonal line, drawn from boron (B) to polonium (Po), separates the metals from the nonmetals. Most elements on this line are metalloids, sometimes called semiconductors. This is because these elements exhibit electrical properties common to both conductors and insulators. Elements to the lower left of this division line are called metals, while elements to the upper right of the division line are called nonmetals.

An alternative definition of metal refers to the band theory. If one fills the energy bands of a material with available electrons and ends up with a top band partly filled then the material is a metal. This definition opens up the category for metallic polymers and other organic metals. These synthetic materials often have the characteristic silvery gray reflectiveness (luster) of elemental metals.

[edit] Astronomy

In the specialized usage of astronomy and astrophysics, the term "metal" is often used to refer collectively to all elements other than hydrogen or helium, including substances as chemically non-metallic as neon, fluorine, and oxygen. Nearly all the hydrogen and helium in the Universe was created in Big Bang nucleosynthesis, whereas all the "metals" were produced by nucleosynthesis in stars or supernovae. The Sun and the Milky Way Galaxy are composed of roughly 74% hydrogen, 24% helium, and 2% "metals" (the rest of the elements; atomic numbers 3–118) by mass.^[5]

The concept of a metal in the usual chemical sense is irrelevant in stars, as the chemical bonds that give elements their properties cannot exist at stellar temperatures.

[edit] Properties

[edit] Chemical

Metals are usually inclined to form cations through electron loss,^[4] reacting with oxygen in the air to form oxides over changing timescales (iron rusts over years, while potassium burns in seconds). Examples:

4 Na + O₂ → 2 Na₂O (sodium oxide)

2 Ca + O₂ → 2 CaO (calcium oxide)

4 Al + 3 O₂ → 2 Al₂O₃ (aluminium oxide).

The transition metals (such as iron, copper, zinc, and nickel) take much longer to oxidize. Others, like palladium, platinum and gold, do not react with the atmosphere at all. Some metals form a barrier layer of oxide on their surface which cannot be penetrated by further oxygen molecules and thus retain their shiny appearance and good conductivity for many decades (like aluminium, magnesium, some steels, and titanium). The oxides of metals are generally basic, as opposed to those of nonmetals, which are acidic.

Painting, anodizing or plating metals are good ways to prevent their corrosion. However, a more reactive metal in the electrochemical series must be chosen for coating, especially when chipping of the coating is expected. Water and the two metals form an electrochemical cell, and if the coating is less reactive than the coatee, the coating actually promotes corrosion.

[edit] Physical

Gallium crystals

Metals in general have high electrical conductivity which depends on their valency of ions, thermal conductivity, luster and density, and the ability to be deformed under stress without cleaving.^[4] While there are several metals that have low density, hardness, and melting points, these (the alkali and alkaline earth metals) are extremely reactive, and are rarely encountered in their elemental, metallic form. Optically speaking, metals are opaque, shiny and lustrous. This is because visible lightwaves are not readily transmitted through the bulk of their microstructure. The large number of mobile electrons in any typical metallic solid (element or alloy) is responsible for the fact that they can never be categorized as transparent materials.

The majority of metals have higher densities than the majority of nonmetals.^[4] Nonetheless, there is wide variation in the densities of metals; lithium is the least dense solid element and osmium is the densest. The metals of groups I A and II A are referred to as the light metals because they are exceptions to this generalization.^[4] The high density of most metals is due to the tightly packed crystal lattice of the metallic structure. The strength of metallic bonds for different metals reaches a maximum around the center of the transition metal series, as those elements have large amounts of delocalized electrons in tight binding type metallic bonds. However, other factors (such as atomic radius, nuclear charge, number of bonding orbitals, overlap of orbital energies, and crystal form) are involved as well.^[4]. Most non-ferrous metals can be recycled many times during their life cycle.

[edit] Electrical

The electrical and thermal conductivity of metals originate from the fact that in the metallic bond, the outer electrons of the metal atoms form a gas of nearly free electrons, moving as an electron gas in a background of positive charge formed by the ion cores. Good mathematical predictions for electrical conductivity, as well as the electrons' contribution to the heat capacity and heat conductivity of metals can be calculated from the free electron model, which does not take the detailed structure of the ion lattice into account.

When considering the exact band structure and binding energy of a metal, it is necessary to take into account the positive potential caused by the specific arrangement of the ion cores – which is periodic in crystals. The most important consequence of the periodic potential is the formation of a small band gap at the boundary of the Brillouin zone. Mathematically, the potential of the ion cores can be treated by various models, the simplest being the nearly free electron model.

[edit] Mechanical

Mechanical properties of metals include ductility, which is largely due to their inherent capacity for plastic deformation. Reversible elastic deformation in metals can be described by Hooke's Law for restoring forces, where the stress is linearly proportional to the strain. Forces larger than the elastic limit, or heat, may cause a permanent (irreversible) deformation of the object, known as plastic deformation or plasticity. This irreversible change in atomic arrangement may occur as a result of:

• The action of an applied force (or work). An applied force may be tensile (pulling) force, compressive (pushing) force, shear, bending or torsion (twisting) forces.

• A change in temperature (heat). A temperature change may affect the mobility of the structural defects such as grain boundaries, point vacancies, line and screw dislocations, stacking faults and twins in both crystalline and non-crystalline solids. The movement or displacement of such mobile defects is thermally activated, and thus limited by the rate of atomic diffusion.

Hot metal work from a blacksmith.

Viscous flow near grain boundaries, for example, can give rise to internal slip, creep and fatigue in metals. It can also contribute to significant changes in the microstructure like grain growth and localized densification due to the elimination of intergranular porosity. Screw dislocations may slip in the direction of any lattice plane containing the dislocation, while the principal driving force for "dislocation climb" is the movement or diffusion of vacancies through a crystal lattice.

In addition, the nondirectional nature of metallic bonding is also thought to contribute significantly to the ductility of most metallic solids. When the planes of an ionic bond slide past one another, the resultant change in location shifts ions of the same charge into close proximity, resulting in the cleavage of the crystal; such shift is not observed in covalently bonded crystals where fracture and crystal fragmentation occurs.^[6]

[edit] Alloys

An alloy is a mixture of two or more elements in solid solution in which the major component is a metal. Most pure metals are either too soft, brittle or chemically reactive for practical use. Combining different ratios of metals as alloys modifies the properties of pure metals to produce desirable characteristics. The aim of making alloys is generally to make them less brittle, harder, resistant to corrosion, or have a more desirable color and luster. Of all the metallic alloys in use today, the alloys of iron (steel, stainless steel, cast iron, tool steel, alloy steel) make up the largest proportion both by quantity and commercial value. Iron alloyed with various proportions of carbon gives low, mid and high carbon steels, with increasing carbon levels reducing ductility and toughness. The addition of silicon will produce cast irons, while the addition of chromium, nickel and molybdenum to carbon steels (more than 10%) results in stainless steels.

Other significant metallic alloys are those of aluminium, titanium, copper and magnesium. Copper alloys have been known since prehistory—bronze gave the Bronze Age its name—and have many applications today, most importantly in electrical wiring. The alloys of the other three metals have been developed relatively recently; due to their chemical reactivity they require electrolytic extraction processes. The alloys of aluminium, titanium and magnesium are valued for their high strength-to-weight ratios; magnesium can also provide electromagnetic shielding^{[citation needed]}. These materials are ideal for situations where high strength-to-weight ratio is more important than material cost, such as in aerospace and some automotive applications.

Alloys specially designed for highly demanding applications, such as jet engines, may contain more than ten elements.

[edit] Categories

[edit] Base metal

Zinc, a base metal, reacting with an acid

In chemistry, the term base metal is used informally to refer to a metal that oxidizes or corrodes relatively easily, and reacts variably with dilute hydrochloric acid (HCl) to form hydrogen. Examples include iron, nickel, lead and zinc. Copper is considered a base metal as it oxidizes relatively easily, although it does not react with HCl. It is commonly used in opposition to noble metal.

In alchemy, a base metal was a common and inexpensive metal, as opposed to precious metals, mainly gold and silver. A longtime goal of the alchemists was the transmutation of base metals into precious metals.

In numismatics, coins used to derive their value primarily from the precious metal content. Most modern currencies are fiat currency, allowing the coins to be made of base metal.

[edit] Ferrous metal

The term "ferrous" is derived from the Latin word meaning "containing iron". This can include pure iron, such as wrought iron, or an alloy such as steel. Ferrous metals are often magnetic, but not exclusively.

[edit] Noble metal

Noble metals are metals that are resistant to corrosion or oxidation, unlike most base metals. They tend to be precious metals, often due to perceived rarity. Examples include gold, platinum, silver and rhodium.

[edit] Precious metal

A gold nugget

A precious metal is a rare metallic chemical element of high economic value.

Chemically, the precious metals are less reactive than most elements, have high luster and high electrical conductivity. Historically, precious metals were important as currency, but are now regarded mainly as investment and industrial commodities. Gold, silver, platinum and palladium each have an ISO 4217 currency code. The best-known precious metals are gold and silver. While both have industrial uses, they are better known for their uses in art, jewelry, and coinage. Other precious metals include the platinum group metals: ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, of which platinum is the most widely traded.

The demand for precious metals is driven not only by their practical use, but also by their role as investments and a store of value. Palladium was, as of summer 2006, valued at a little under half the price of gold, and platinum at around twice that of gold. Silver is substantially less expensive than these metals, but is often traditionally considered a precious metal for its role in coinage and jewelry.

[edit] Extraction

Metals are often extracted from the Earth by means of mining, resulting in ores that are relatively rich sources of the requisite elements. Ore is located by prospecting techniques, followed by the exploration and examination of deposits. Mineral sources are generally divided into surface mines, which are mined by excavation using heavy equipment, and subsurface mines.

Once the ore is mined, the metals must be extracted, usually by chemical or electrolytic reduction. Pyrometallurgy uses high temperatures to convert ore into raw metals, while hydrometallurgy employs aqueous chemistry for the same purpose. The methods used depend on the metal and their contaminants.

When a metal ore is an ionic compound of that metal and a non-metal, the ore must usually be smelted — heated with a reducing agent — to extract the pure metal. Many common metals, such as iron, are smelted using carbon as a reducing agent. Some metals, such as aluminium and sodium, have no commercially practical reducing agent, and are extracted using electrolysis instead.^[7][8]

Sulfide ores are not reduced directly to the metal but are roasted in air to convert them to oxides.

[edit] Recycling of metals

Demand for metals is closely linked to economic growth. During the 20th century, the variety of metals uses in society grew rapidly. Today, the development of major nations, such as China and India, and advances in technologies, are fuelling ever more demand. The result is that mining activities are expanding, and more and more of the world’s metal stocks are above ground in use, rather than below ground as unused reserves. An example is the in-use stock of copper. Between 1932 and 1999, copper in use in the USA rose from 73g to 238g per person.^[9]

Metals are inherently recyclable, so in principle, can be used over and over again, minimizing these negative environmental impacts and saving energy at the same time. For example, 95% of the energy used to make aluminium from bauxite ore is saved by using recycled material.^[10] However, levels of metals recycling are generally low. In 2010, the International Resource Panel, hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published reports on metal stocks that exist within society^[11] and their recycling rates.^[12]

The report authors observed that the metal stocks in society can serve as huge mines above ground. However, they warned that the recycling rates of some rare metals used in applications such as mobile phones, battery packs for hybrid cars and fuel cells are so low that unless future end-of-life recycling rates are dramatically stepped up these critical metals will become unavailable for use in modern technology.

[edit] Metallurgy

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys.

[edit] Applications

Some metals and metal alloys possess high structural strength per unit mass, making them useful materials for carrying large loads or resisting impact damage. Metal alloys can be engineered to have high resistance to shear, torque and deformation. However the same metal can also be vulnerable to fatigue damage through repeated use or from sudden stress failure when a load capacity is exceeded. The strength and resilience of metals has led to their frequent use in high-rise building and bridge construction, as well as most vehicles, many appliances, tools, pipes, non-illuminated signs and railroad tracks.

The two most commonly used structural metals, iron and aluminium, are also the most abundant metals in the Earth's crust.^[13]

Metals are good conductors, making them valuable in electrical appliances and for carrying an electric current over a distance with little energy lost. Electrical power grids rely on metal cables to distribute electricity. Home electrical systems, for the most part, are wired with copper wire for its good conducting properties.

The thermal conductivity of metal is useful for containers to heat materials over a flame. Metal is also used for heat sinks to protect sensitive equipment from overheating.

The high reflectivity of some metals is important in the construction of mirrors, including precision astronomical instruments. This last property can also make metallic jewelry aesthetically appealing.

Some metals have specialized uses; radioactive metals such as uranium and plutonium are used in nuclear power plants to produce energy via nuclear fission. Mercury is a liquid at room temperature and is used in switches to complete a circuit when it flows over the switch contacts. Shape memory alloy is used for applications such as pipes, fasteners and vascular stents.

[edit] Trade

Metal and ore imports in 2005

The World Bank reports that China was the top importer of ores and metals in 2005 followed by the U.S.A. and Japan.^[14]

[edit] History

The nature of metals has fascinated mankind for many centuries, because these materials provided people with tools of unsurpassed properties both in war and in their preparation and processing.

Sterling gold and silver are known to man since the Stone Age. Lead and silver were molten down from ores since the fourth millennium BC.^[15]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Look up metal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Metals

vep:Metall

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (October 2009)

Edward Davis "Ed" Fagan (born October 20, 1952) is a controversial former American reparations lawyer who was punished by the Supreme Court for his conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.^[1] Edward Fagan was disbarred in New York^[2] and New Jersey for failing to pay court fines and fees and for stealing client money and escrow trust funds from Holocaust survivors.^[3]

[edit] Background

Fagan was born in Harlingen, Texas. He grew up in a Conservative Jewish^[3] home in San Antonio, Texas and has two children. Prior to embarking on his legal career, he traveled to Israel to take part in the Yom Kippur War.^[3][4] After returning to the US, he enrolled in Cardozo School of Law and graduated in 1980.^[5] He initially worked as a personal injury lawyer,^[2] then worked with a large law firm, representing corporate defendants, before he started an exploration club for the wealthy in the 1980s, allowing rich customers to visit exotic locations, entertained and accompanied by scientists and environmentalists. A nonprofit venture of the business, the Odyssoe Foundation, was created in 1991, but collapsed with the entire enterprise.^[5]

Clients and partners have stated publicly and in court, that Fagan often failed to represent the interest of his clients, he generally takes on "too many clients", "vastly outstrips his resources", and is "often absent for the legal fight". According to Burt Neuborne, law professor at New York University, who had worked with Mr. Fagan before breaking with him, "Mr. Fagan's filing in the Swiss banks case was so inadequate that a judge asked him to rewrite it. ... This was an ordinary man who got swept up in issues that were bigger than he was."

Ed "Fag" An (as his classmates used to call him) currently resides in Prague, Czech Republic, where he works Friday nights at a Kosher Chabbad restaurant called Shelanu. Fagan is divorced but remains close with his ex-father-in-law. Fagan can often be found lurking around the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Prague, where he attends Shul at the Old New Synagogue, the oldest synagogue remaining in all of Europe. If you befriend Fagan he may invite you over to his home for Shabbat dinners. Fagan has an unnatural and unwarranted hatred for the small town of Sharon, Massachusetts.

[edit] Career

[edit] 1990 Holocaust lawsuits against Swiss banks

In the 1990s, Fagan filed lawsuits against Swiss banks which had refused to repay money that belonged to Holocaust victims. The banks in question settled the claims outside of court, resulting in a payout of US$1.25 billion.

According to news reports^[6] Ed Fagan even held up the final formal signing of the German slave labor settlement because he wanted more money for himself. While several hundred people and German and American representatives waited, Ed Fagan, still wearing an ABCNEWS 20/20 microphone, could be heard "haggling over the fees, and then boasting of his success". He was recorded saying, "I got the legal fees up, ... We did great, we did great we just got another, we just got some more money.”^[6]

Amongst Fagan's many critics is New York University law professor Burt Neuborne, who said on record: "We essentially worked around him, ... I mean, he was, he was there, but, but he played, if I tell you zero, I mean zero role in developing the legal theory, in presenting the legal theory, and in participating as a lawyer."^[6] Neuborne, a leading human rights lawyer, believes it's time to set the record straight:

"It didn’t surprise me at the last minute that the only lawyer, the only lawyer that thought he could hold this deal up would be Ed Fagan. Because that’s the barometer of how much you care about yourself, and how much you care about those victims," says Neuborne. "I think it is appropriate to, to tell the truth about him. One hundred percent of his activity in this case, including the press activity, it was designed to get his name there so other people would sign up with him, so he could get more and more and more and more people in the fold and then show up in court and say 'I am the top lawyer cause I have got the most clients.'"^[6]

In 1998, Mrs. Gizella Weisshaus, the named plaintiff in the lawsuit against Swiss banks, opted out of that historic settlement because she felt that her attorneys were more interested in paying themselves millions of dollars, even before some of the survivors had received any money. On April 8, 1998 Mrs. Gizella Weisshauss filed an attorney ethics complaint, claiming that Edward D. Fagan, her lawyer at the time, held back $82,583.04 belonging to her from the estate of her deceased cousin Jack Oestreicher. Hal R. Lieberman, Esq. from Departmental Disciplinary Committee, Supreme Court, Appellate Division, responded on May 6, 1998, that in this "ongoing criminal proceeding" the outcome of the disciplinary investigation should be awaited.^[7]

In 2000, Fagan represented some 82,000 Holocaust victims and family members (many of whom later accused him of negligence), suing governments and companies in Germany and Austria based on the Alien Tort Claims Act.

[edit] 2000 Temelín Nuclear Power Station

2000 Fagan started cooperation with Austrian anti-atom organizations in their fight again Czech Temelín Nuclear Power Station. He ask ČEZ and Westinghouse companies for projects and others materials, and he threatened by trial and put some next ultimates. After 2 years, he ended his activities without any results.

[edit] 2002 Slavery class action lawsuit

In April 2002 Ed Fagan filed a class action lawsuit against 18 companies, including FleetBoston, CSX Corporation, Aetna, Union Pacific Railroad, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Lehman Brothers, accusing the companies to have "unjustly enriched (themselves) through profits earned either directly or indirectly from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery between 1619 and 1865, as well as post-Emancipation slavery through the 1960s". In January 2004 Judge Charles R Norgle dismissed the lawsuit because Fagan failed to establish a clear link between plaintiffs and the companies.^[8]

[edit] 2002 Apartheid lawsuit against Swiss and U.S. banks

According to news reports by CNN, the "maverick lawyer" attempted to file a $50 billion class action lawsuit against Swiss UBS and Credit Suisse and U.S. based Citicorp Inc. for providing funds to the South African apartheid government during 1985 and 1993. Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman Ruedi Christen dismissed the lawsuit with the following words: "It's another unjust attack against Switzerland," an opinion shared in Switzerland, where citizens told Fagan to "Go home!" and "Wash your dirty linen elsewhere", when he held a news conference on Zurich's Paradeplatz, home of the two biggest banks of Switzerland: Credit Suisse and UBS.^[9]

[edit] 2003 Apartheid lawsuit against Anglo American

In 2003 Fagan and South African law firm Ngcebetsha Madlanga Attorneys attempted to sue Anglo American, the word's second-biggest mining company, diamond producer De Beers, Sasol Ltd., which supplies about 44 percent of South Africa's motor fuel, and Fluor Corporation, a California-based engineering company, claiming that the companies profited from South Africa's racial discrimination policies that ended in 1994.^[10][11] The claims were dismissed by a federal district judge in November 2004, Fagan was not allowed to represent the case.^[12]

[edit] 2004 Artwork lawsuit against Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG

In 2004, Fagan filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan for a non-existent group called the Association of Holocaust Victims for Restitution of Artwork & Masterpieces (AHVRAM) against Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG and other European corporate, governmental and financial institutions for $6.8 billion.^[13] The lawsuit alleged the theft of artworks and other property during World War II's Holocaust, but was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Shirley Wohl Kram on Aug. 19, 2005, because Fagan failed to state any basis for federal court jurisdiction of the "frivolous" and "bad faith" lawsuit. Kram noted that the "plaintiff organization AHVRAM did not exist," Fagan's "lack of preparation and professionalism, his 'glaringly inadequate filings,' and the fact that he deceived the court".^[14] Fagan's failure to pay the more than $350,000 in fines and litigation costs to the Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG led to his bankruptcy and disbarment.^[2]

[edit] 2004 Slave trade lawsuit against Lloyd's of London

Claiming that the descendants of black American slaves still suffer, Fagan sued the UK's oldest insurance firm Lloyd's of London for insuring ships used in the slave trade in the 1700-1800s. Fagan's interest in financial compensation was immediately criticized by Kofi Mawuli Klu, the Chair of the Pan-Afrikan Taskforce for Internationalist Dialogue (PATFID); the Anti-Slavery Abolitionist Heritage Learning movement and member of the Pan-Afrikan Reparations Coalition in Europe (PARCOE): "We have to make sure that the focus does not shift from the broad, deeper understanding of reparations to just one of financial compensation, ... We see action for reparations more as an educational issue of bringing masses of people into the fight against racism."^[15]

[edit] 2005 Kaprun disaster lawsuit

Fagan attempted to represent the plaintiffs in a suit brought by relatives of six Americans who died in mountain railway disaster in Kaprun, Austria, which killed 155 people, but in August 2007, Southern District of New York Judge Shira Scheindlin disqualified Fagan from representing the plaintiffs, after noting that Fagan, who had filed for personal bankruptcy, had a personal interest in the litigation's outcome and made false representations to the court. Scheindlin slapped the attorney with a $5,000 fine.^[2] Fagan continues to seek winnings [2009] in this case with a former partner in the case that through their failed Florida partnership representing victims in the Louis J Pearlman fraud, allowed Fagan to vindictively sell his services to victims of that fraud. Fagan eventually deserted these clients after severely hurting their chances of any recovery due to his obstructionist and disingenuous involvement in their cases.

[edit] 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami victims lawsuit

In 2005, he initiated a lawsuit on behalf of 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake victims. The lawsuit was directed against the Thai government, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the French hotel group Sofitel, blaming them for insufficient quake and tsunami warnings.^[16]

[edit] 2006 Borat lawsuit

In 2006, Fagan initiated legal proceedings, suing the makers of the film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan for $30 million damages, on behalf of two inhabitants of the Romanian village of Glod, Dâmbovita for human rights violations. He plans to submit lawsuits in New York and Florida state courts, as well as in Frankfurt, Germany.^[17] Fagan said that he hoped to "teach Hollywood a very expensive lesson." The lawsuit was thrown out by U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in a hearing in early December 2006 on the grounds that the charges were too vague to stand up in court. Fagan plans to refile.^[18]

[edit] Malpractice

Ed Fagan has been accused of abandoning personal injury clients in favor of the more lucrative Holocaust reparations cases. One personal injury client sued Fagan, and won a $3.2 million malpractice award.^[19] Fagan has also been accused of having wasted over $500,000 of his clients' money.^[20]

In 1998 Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. of Federal District Court dismissed the federal lawsuit of Mr. Ortiz, noting that Mr. Fagan, his attorney, had "failed to prosecute" it for three years and had ignored court orders. The lawsuit of Mr. Ortiz, then a 49-year-old truck driver involved in a traffic accident, started in 1994, when Mr. Fagan filed a $35 million lawsuit on his behalf in federal court in Brooklyn and State Supreme Court, but Edward Fagan failed to pursue the case after 1996. Since then Edward Fagan did not even see or speak with his client.^[5]

In another case Mr. Fagan failed to submit a claim for Mr. Tom Giron to a New York state fund that compensates victims of uninsured motorists. Mr Giron was struck and severely injured in 1992 by a car reported stolen, but did not receive any compensation, because, according to Jeffrey Rubinton, the fund's president, a claim was never filed and "its records showed that such an action had not been pursued and that the statute of limitations on making one had long expired."^[5] Another client, Offer Salmoni, won a $167,000 malpractice judgment against Mr. Fagan, because Mr. Fagan repeatedly failed to make court appearances in his eviction case, and so the statute of limitations expired without refiling.^[5]

New Jersey ethics officials filed a misconduct complaint before a grievance committee against Mr. Fagan on behalf of Diane Gibbons, another former client, who complained that Mr. Fagan failed to submit required papers in her personal injury case, leading to its dismissal.^[5] During the proceedings Mr. Fagan was forced to admit that he failed to withdraw from suits that he could not pursue, excusing himself with the words: "I was in over my head a lot of the time."^[5]

[edit] Sexual conduct investigation

The Jewish Daily The Forward reported in October 2005^[21] that Ed Fagan was engaged in a legal investigation about published accusations and sexual contacts with underage prostitutes in Austria. Austrian print^[22][23] and broadcast media^[24][25] reported that the state prosecutor in Vienna is looking into Fagan's contact with a prostitution ring that involved underage girls from Eastern Europe. Fagan confirmed the sexual contacts with a 17-year-old Lithuanian prostitute named Inga but claims that he believed the prostitute to be at least 22 years old.^[21] Although prostitution is regulated in Austria, it is still illegal to knowingly hire a prostitute under the age of 18. The maximum sentence, according to § 207b (Sexual abuses of adolescents) of the Austrian Strafgesetzbuch (Criminal law) is 3 years of imprisonment.^[26]

[edit] Disbarment in New Jersey and New York

In 2005 Fagan became the subject of an ethics investigation by the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics, accusing him of "knowing misappropriation" of client money.^[27][28] On April 2, 2007, Appellate Division, 1st Department held that Fagan had "violated a number of disciplinary rules prohibiting an attorney from disregarding a court's rulings, engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, misrepresentation or deceit, and acquiring a proprietary interest in the subject of the litigation."^[2]

On December 11, 2008, in the "Matter of Edward D. Fagan, M-2732, M-3148, M-3193",^[1] a unanimous panel of the Appellate Division, 1st Department, ruled, that Fagan's failure to pay sanctions and money owed to Bank Austria, his "pattern of prior sanctions for unprofessional conduct" and his "lack of contrition" made him unfit to practice law.^[2] Fagans will be "stricken from the roll of attorneys and counselors-at-law in the State of New York."^[1] The following day, Fagan was disbarred in New York for failing to pay a court fine and fees due to Bank Austria.^[2]

Following the 2008 recommendation of a special ethics master the state disciplinary board of New Jersey decided in January 2009, that Fagan should be disbarred and banned from practicing in the state because he misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars entrusted to him by Holocaust survivors.^[3]

[edit] Bankruptcy

Fagan's finances and businesses started to collapse in the 1990s. According to public records and newspaper articles^[5] Fagan began to owe large amounts of federal income taxes. In 1996 the Nynex Corporation filed a $228,000 lawsuit against Odyssoe in a New Jersey court for unpaid advertisements services, a bill that was, according to a spokeswoman for Verizon, the successor to Nynex, not even paid in 2000.^[5] Facing an eviction proceeding for unpaid rent, Ed Fagan was forced in 1997 to abandon his offices and rent space from a law firm in the World Trade Center.^[5]

In 2005 Fagan had 28 outstanding court awards and liens of more than $4 million against him and his firm, Fagan & Associates, including three from clients who alleged that he neglected their cases.^[29] In February 2007 he filed for protection under federal bankruptcy laws in Tampa, Florida. Court documents are said to show that he owes about $9.4 million to creditors.^[30]

[edit] See also

• List of disbarments in the United States
• Christoph Meili
• Holocaust industry

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Case of Ed Fagan
• Holocaust Lawyer Fights Accusation He Hired Underage Austrian Hooker
• Con Man and Snake Oil Salesman Ed Fagan Tries To Shut Down Parentadvocates.org. Lewenstein Serves Subpoena on Gizella Weisshaus