Re-Examination: Conversations with the storytellers behind legal history - The historic return of Bruce’s Beach with George Fatheree

The historic return of Bruce’s Beach with George Fatheree

12/11/23 • 67 min

Re-Examination: Conversations with the storytellers behind legal history

In this episode, George Fatheree III talks about his journey leading to his representation of the heirs of Charles and Willa Bruce, whose land in the city of Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County was taken away from them a century ago.
Justice for the Bruces gained momentum in April 2021 when Los Angeles County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Holly Mitchell announced their intention to have Los Angeles County return the beachfront property to the Bruce’s legal heirs.
But the return was not a sure thing. Opposition loomed. There were thorny legal questions to answer, tax implications to consider, and legislative hurdles to clear.
At the time, a partner at Munger Tolles & Olson who would later leave for Sidley Austin, Fatheree had an ideal background for the assignment, which included politics, real estate, and projects supporting the African-American community. At Munger and Sidley, he was also backed by multidisciplinary teams, who eventually devoted more than 1,000 pro bono hours to creating a model for other governments to correct historical injustices.
Their work paid off. On July 20, 2022, the Board of Supervisors returned ownership of Bruce’s Beach to the closest living legal heirs of Charles and Willa Bruce. It was the first time any government in the United States had returned land wrongly taken from a Black family.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Previous Episode

Behind the historic opioid litigation with Paul Geller

In the second episode of Re-Examination, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd founding partner Paul Geller shares the inside story of how a group of plaintiffs’ lawyers, and states, counties, municipalities and even school districts banded together to secure more than $50 billion in settlements over the opioid crisis.

Among those who have paid for what has been called “one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine” are the thousands of communities that have been left to pick up the tab for everything from constant emergency room visits to expensive addiction treatments to the cleanup of degraded public areas like parks, sidewalks and libraries.

For the last six years, a group of plaintiffs’ lawyers and state attorneys general have sought to make pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies pay up. They have filed hundreds of lawsuits alleging they made misleading statements about the risks of opioid use and failed to execute safety protocols.

Paul Geller is one of the attorneys appointed by a federal judge to lead the case. In conversation with Infinite Global Head Writer Andrew Longstreth and M Coffey founder Murray Coffey, Paul explains how he and his colleagues approached telling the story of this national tragedy that left no defendant off the hook.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Next Episode

Inside the Unite the Right trial

In the first episode of season two, Infinite Global Head Writer Andrew Longstreth and M Coffey founder Murray Coffey speak with Michael L. Bloch and Benjamin D. White about their role taking on the white supremacists who organized the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville in 2017. The $26 million verdict they helped win for victims of the violence made national headlines and sent a powerful message to the defendants and their allies.

The trial featured a devastating cross examination by Bloch of Richard Spencer, the leader of the alt right. In the episode Bloch discusses how he prepared for it, the story he wanted to tell and some of the key strategic decisions he made.

The two co-founders of the litigation boutique Bloch & White, now two years old, also talk about what’s next on their docket.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Re-Examination: Conversations with the storytellers behind legal history - The historic return of Bruce’s Beach with George Fatheree

Transcript

[00:00:00] Andrew: On February 19, 1912, Willa Bruce paid $1, 225 for land measuring roughly 33 by 105 feet in Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County. Willa, born in Missouri, and her husband, Charles of Washington, D. C., were part of the Great Migration of black Americans who left the South to settle North and West. Willa's vision for a seaside resort catering to black families who faced whites only restrictions at other beaches was an immediate success.

[00:00:34] Afte