THE LOEWEN GROUP, INC. and RAYMOND L. LOEWEN, v. THE ...

nationality of which claimants complain were directed to these points, and not to any alleged
nationalistic bias.
C. Alleged Improper References To Race
Claimants are wide of the mark when they assert that "[t]he United States cannot dispute
that Willie Gary played the race card first . . . ." Joint Reply at 34. As the United States has
shown, it was Loewen, not O'Keefe, that began the practice of racial pandering by adding to its
already-large legal team a number of prominent African-American attorneys, and it was Loewen
that attempted to ingratiate itself with the African-American jurors throughout the trial. See
Counter-Mem. at 26-30. Although this fact is already evident from the record, Loewen's recent
production of documents (meager as it is) makes it even clearer.
For Loewen, it was not enough that Richard Sinkfield, the company's lead trial counsel,
was African-American and that two of the other four lawyers on the team were prominent
African-American members of the Mississippi state legislature. As David Clark, one of
Loewen's two white trial lawyers, privately explained to the company at the time,
Richard is a bright and able lawyer, but the person we have on our side
who is well known to the black (and to a more limited extent, white)
community here is Ed Blackmon. In addition, several members of the jury
know him, and one knows his wife even better.
U.S. App. at 1234 (emphasis added). Given Mr. Blackmon's perceived influence with the
African-American jurors, Loewen's counsel urged that "we need to get Ed Blackmon on his feet
and in front of this jury more, and soon." Id. (emphasis added).
11 (...continued)
(Aug. 2, 1997) (U.S. App. at 1334-37) (noting that the UK Monopolies and Mergers Commission
ruled that SCI, Loewen's principal competitor, had to "disclose publicly its ownership of funeral
businesses it took over."); U.S. App. at 0065, 0072.
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