1 GAF, Part III is scheduled to begin today.
2 After two mistrials, the stakes in the stock manipulation trial of GAF Corp. and its vice chairman, James T. Sherwin, have changed considerably.
3 The first two GAF trials were watched closely on Wall Street because they were considered to be important tests of the government's ability to convince a jury of allegations stemming from its insider-trading investigations.
4 In an eight-count indictment, the government charged GAF, a Wayne, N.J., chemical maker, and Mr. Sherwin with illegally attempting to manipulate the common stock of Union Carbide Corp. in advance of GAF's planned sale of a large block of the stock in 1986.
5 The government's credibility in the GAF case depended heavily on its star witness, Boyd L. Jefferies, the former Los Angeles brokerage chief who was implicated by former arbitrager Ivan Boesky, and then pointed the finger at Mr. Sherwin, takeover speculator Salim B. Lewis and corporate raider Paul Bilzerian.
6 The GAF trials were viewed as previews of the government's strength in its cases against Mr. Lewis and Mr. Bilzerian.
7 Mr. Jefferies's performance as a witness was expected to affect his sentencing.
8 But GAF's bellwether role was short-lived.
9 The first GAF trial ended in a mistrial after four weeks when U.S. District Judge Mary Johnson Lowe found that a prosecutor improperly, but unintentionally, withheld a document.
10 After 93 hours of deliberation, the jurors in the second trial said they were hopelessly deadlocked, and another mistrial was declared on March 22.
11 Meanwhile, a federal jury found Mr. Bilzerian guilty on securities fraud and other charges in June.
12 A month later, Mr. Jefferies was spared a jail term by a federal judge who praised him for helping the government.
13 In August, Mr. Lewis pleaded guilty to three felony counts.
14 Nevertheless, the stakes are still high for the players directly involved in the GAF case.
15 The mistrials have left the reputations of GAF, Mr. Sherwin and GAF Chairman Samuel Heyman in limbo.
16 For Mr. Sherwin, a conviction could carry penalties of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.
17 GAF faces potential fines of $500,000 for each count.
18 Individuals familiar with the case said that throughout September, defense attorneys were talking with the government in an effort to prevent a trial, but by the end of the month the talks had ended.
19 There is much speculation among attorneys not involved that the strategy of GAF's attorney, Arthur Liman, and Mr. Sherwin's counsel, Stephen Kaufman, will include testimony by Mr. Sherwin or Mr. Heyman.
20 Neither testified at the previous trials.
21 For now, defense attorneys are tight-lipped about their plans.
22 Max Gitter, another GAF defense attorney, said yesterday, 'As we go in for the third time, Yogi Berra's famous line is apt: `It's deja vu all over again. ''
23 DALKON SHIELD CLAIMANTS hope to stop reorganization-plan appeal.
24 Attorneys for more than 18,000 women who claim injuries from the Dalkon Shield contraceptive device have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to refuse to hear an appeal of the bankruptcy-law reorganization plan for A.H. Robins Co., which manufactured the device.
25 The dispute pits two groups of claimants against each other.
26 Baltimore attorney Michael A. Pretl and 17 other attorneys representing 18,136 claimants in the U.S. and abroad argue that the appeal would delay -- and perhaps even destroy -- a $2.38 billion settlement fund that is the centerpiece of the reorganization plan.
27 The bankruptcy-court reorganization is being challenged before the Supreme Court by a dissident group of claimants because it places a cap on the total amount of money available to settle claims.
28 It also bars future suits against Robins company officials, members of the Robins family and Robins's former insurer, Aetna Life & Casualty Co.
29 The latter provision is 'legally unprecedented,' said Alan B. Morrison, a public interest lawyer in Washington, D.C., who is challenging the plan on behalf of 900 claimants.
30 More than 100,000 claims against Robins are pending.
31 The company made and marketed the Dalkon Shield in the early 1970s amid mounting evidence that it could cause serious injuries.
32 Robins has been in proceedings under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code since August 1985; such proceedings give it protection from creditor lawsuits while it works out a plan for paying its debts.
33 American Home Products Corp. wants to acquire Robins, but only if all legal challenges to the plan are exhausted.
34 In a brief filed with the Supreme Court last week, Mr. Pretl criticizes the appeal for raising 'abstract' and 'theoretical' legal issues, while jeopardizing the proposed reorganization and the settlement payments to claimants.
35 The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider the case Nov. 3 and may issue a decision as early as Nov. 6.
36 JURY`S CRIMINAL CONVICTION under Superfund law is a first.
37 Charles A. Donohoo, sole proprieter of a Louisville, Ky., demolition company, was found guilty of violating the Superfund law as well as the Clean Air Act.
38 Criminal convictions under the federal Superfund law are rare, and the decision is the first jury verdict in such a case.
39 Under Superfund, those who owned, generated or transported hazardous waste are liable for its cleanup, regardless of whether their actions were legal at the time.
40 Environmental lawyers say virtually all of the Superfund cases to date have involved civil penalties designed to insure cleanup of past polluting activities.
41 But Superfund also contains a criminal provision concerning the release of toxic substances into the environment.
42 In 1986 Congress strengthened the penalty by making it a felony.
43 Mr. Donohoo was convicted in Louisville late last month of violating Superfund by failing to report the release of asbestos into the environment from a building he was demolishing.
44 He was also convicted of failing to properly remove asbestos from the building, a violation of the Clean Air Act.
45 The government sought a criminal penalty because 'no cleanup is possible here.
46 Once {asbestos} is released into the environment, it can lodge anywhere,' says Richard A. Dennis, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case.
47 Mr. Donohoo is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 11.
48 His lawyer could not be reached for comment.
49 Mr. Donohoo faces as much as three years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the Superfund conviction and as much as one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for the violation of the Clean Air Act.
50 TED BUNDY'S LAWYERS switch to victims' side in death-sentence case.
51 Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, the Washington, D.C., law firm that spent over $1 million fighting the execution of mass-murderer Ted Bundy -- who eventually was executed -- has taken on another death penalty case before the Supreme Court, this time on the side of the family of four murder victims in Arkansas.
52 The law firm has filed a friend-of-the-court brief jointly with the Washington Legal Foundation, a conservative legal group.
53 The key issue in the case, which the law firm is handling without a fee, or pro bono, is whether a person sentenced to death can voluntarily waive his rights of appellate review.
54 The murderer, Ronald Gene Simmons, was convicted of killing 14 people.
55 Another murderer on death row has appealed Mr. Simmons's death sentence in a 'next friend' capacity.
56 Wilmer Cutler's brief argues that there is no mandatory appellate review of capital sentences and that the inmate who filed the appeal lacks proper standing.
57 P.J. Mode, Wilmer Cutler's managing partner, says the trial team that represented Mr. Bundy was asked by the firm's pro bono committee whether the new case posed a conflict and that no objections were raised.
58 The coupling of the law firm and the Washington Legal Foundation is odd also, because Wilmer Cutler was one of the firms singled out for criticism two years ago by the conservative legal group for displaying a liberal bias in its pro bono work.
59 'We give them a lot of credit for taking this case,' says WLF's Alan Slobodin.
60 THE CASE OF THE FAKE DALIS: In federal court in Manhattan, three defendants pleaded guilty to charges of fraud in connection with the sale of fake Salvador Dali lithographs.
61 James Burke and Larry Evans, formerly owners of the now-defunct Barclay Gallery, and Prudence Clark, a Barclay sales representative, were charged with conducting high-pressure telephone sales in which they misrepresented cheap copies of Dali artwork as signed, limited-edition lithographs.
62 The posters were sold for $1,300 to $6,000, although the government says they had a value of only $53 to $200 apiece.
63 Henry Pitman, the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case, said about 1,000 customers were defrauded and that Barclay's total proceeds from the sales were $3.4 million.
64 Attorneys for Messrs.
65 Burke and Evans and Ms. Clarke said that although their clients admitted to making some misrepresentations in the sales, they had believed that the works were authorized by Mr. Dali, who died in January.
66 The posters were printed on paper pre-signed by Mr. Dali, the attorneys said.

After two mistrials , the stakes in the stock manipulation trial of GAF Corp . and its vice chairman , James T . Sherwin , have changed considerably .
have changed considerably .
How have the stakes changed?