James K. Fett charges forward to pursue special affirmative action cases
By: Liz Cobbs, staff reporter, The Ann Arbor News
James K. Fett took on his first employment discrimination case one year after graduating from the University of Michigan Law School.
Fett's best friend wanted him to represent his father who claimed he had been fired from his job because of his age and other reasons.
It was 1987 and the 27 year old Fett had just been hired by Ypsilanti attorney Andrew S. Muth, for whom Fett had worked as a law clerk while in school. Fett remembers the more-experienced Muth tutoring him through the complicated case. Within eight months, the lawsuit was settled.
"I said, 'This is easy!'" Fett laughed. "But I was soon to be disabused of that notion."
The next 12 years would rid Fett of his early misconceptions about easy cases and shape him into an aggressive attorney who's not only willing to fight city hall, but state government as well. Especially when it comes to discrimination.
"There is no shortage of discrimination out there," Fett said during a recent interview at his office in south Ann Arbor. "Most discrimination is directed to people of color and there's more discrimination against females then males. It's not right, regardless of who's the target of discrimination."
Although he detests discrimination of any kind, Fett takes a dim view of affirmative action remedies, except in rare instances.
In recent years, he has taken legal aim at Michigan's affirmative action practices.
Fett is the attorney for seven white male Michigan State Police troopers whose lawsuits challenged the state's racial and gender preferences for promotions. Of those cases, five are pending, one has been settled and one has been dismissed.
Fett also represents two male employees at the W.J. Maxey Boys Juvenile Training Center in Green Oak Township in a reverse discrimination lawsuit against the State. That suit is scheduled to go to trial later this spring in Livingston County Circuit Court.
There are times, Fett said, when affirmative action measures are called for in the workplace.
"But only if it can be demonstrated that the employer in question has engaged in past discrimination against a benefited group," said Fett, who represents both employees and employers. "If affirmative action is used to remediate past discrimination, then I'm all for it. But if it's used to remediate past discrimination in society, I'm not for that."
Fett also is against public institutions - such as the state of Michigan - basing promotions on race and gender to increase the number of minorities and females in the workplace.
"Just because there is statistical disparity doesn't mean there is discrimination. Statistics are meaningless once you eliminate discrimination as a cause for disparity."
Fett has had mixed success in the lawsuits against the state. One case for two troopers, filed in Oakland County Circuit court last year, was dismissed after a judge ruled in favor of the state. Fett has appealed that ruling to the Michigan Court of Appeals. An identical suit for the troopers is pending in federal court.
In February 1996, a Livingston Court Circuit Court jury awarded state police Detective Sgt. Thomas Cremonte $850,000 in damages, but the award was reversed on appeal. Part of the case was settled in January for $295,000 but Cremonte's claim that his right to equal protection under the state constitution was violated is on appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court.
It was Cremonte, Fett recalled, who first approached him in 1993 about suing the state. Cremonte had worked for the state police since 1977, and he claimed he had been passed over for promotion because of his age and was discriminated against because he is a white male.
"What he described what unfair, but I didn't' think I could do anything for him," Fett recalled.
But Cremonte was persistent.
"My perception was he was hesitant at first because he hadn't sued anyone in state government before and that's a big hurdle to overcome," said the 46 year old Cremonte, who works at the Brighton post. "I hounded him...he himself is persistent. I wanted someone like that. I needed someone not only who had the smarts but had the tenacity to see this thing through."
Litigating a controversial and divisive issue such as affirmative action has brought Fett criticism from colleagues but seldom does it come to him directly.
"I get criticism behind my back but it gets back to me," said Fett, who prefers direct confrontation.
But he can handle it.
Fett has "all the intangibles" a trial lawyer needs, such as working harder than opponents and having a passion to right the wrongs for clients, said Muth, Fett's former boss.
"What you learn in (law) school are technical skills," Muth said. "Someone who knows all that but doesn't have the intangibles will be a mediocre lawyer. I knew Jim would make a great lawyer. He's a hard worker. He didn't need any help on the intangibles."
Fett's law partner, Marla A. Linderman, said Fett only accepts clients who he whole-heartedly believes have been wronged.
"When he believes that a client has been wronged, whether it is by a Fortune 500 company or the state of Michigan, he will fight for his client's rights," Linderman said.
Muth described Fett as having a "football mentality" - the type of competitive attitude that's suited for litigation.
Maybe that's because Fett played football at Crestwood High School in Dearborn Heights. He was a fullback, a linebacker and captain of the Crestwood Chargers football team. When he wasn't on the gridiron, Fett was arguing his point on the school's debate team.
Fett earned a bachelor's degree from the U-M in 1982. In 1986, he earned both a master's of business administration degree and a law degree.
That same year, Fett landed his first job, as a lawyer with a western Michigan law firm. A year later, he joined Muth's office where he started building up his own employment cases.
More referrals came Fett's way after a series of labor law articles he wrote - beginning with "How Should I Sue My Employer: Let Me Count The Ways" - were published in a journal for Washtenaw County lawyers in 1989.
About the same time, Fett's name frequently appeared in a local newsletter for trial lawyers among the list of cases that had been settled out-of-court.
Attorney Richard J. Seryak has been on the opposing side in several of Fett's cases that ended in settlements.
"I would regard him as a tough opponent to deal with," said Seryak, of the Miller, Canfield, Paddock & Stone law firm in Detroit. "He's aggressive and a street-smart kind of guy. He has an understanding of how juries and judges would treat certain issues and he brings that to the situation. I think even when we disagreed on points, it has always been in a professional way."
Seryak remembers a particular case that he and Fett were looking at different ways to settle. One way they tried was non-monetary: Fett was willing to give up his attorney fees.
"That impressed me," Seryak said. "He was looking out for the best interests of his clients. That said a lot to me. I had a lot of respect for him from that point forward."
Fett stayed with Muth until 1994, then formed a partnership with Ann Arbor attorney Michael P. Malley.
In one of the most noted cases against the city of Ann Arbor, Fett won $255,000 in damages for his client, Lois McWherter, in 1995. McWherter, then a city parking referee, sued a male co-worker for sexual harassment and her male supervisor and the city of retaliating against her for reporting it. The trial received national coverage on the Court TV cable network.
A year later, Fett won the Attorney of the Year Award from the Washtenaw Trial Lawyers Association.
Currently, Fett has two separate lawsuits against the city, both involving police department officers who claim they were discriminated against on the job.
In 1998, Fett formed a partnership with Linderman and plans to open another Fett & Linderman office in Pinckney later this spring.
Last month, Fett filed a confidential lawsuit against former partner Malley in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, naming himself and the law firm of Malley & Fett as plaintiffs. Details of that suit are suppressed and Fett won't talk about it publicly.
Beyond his typical 50-60 hour work week, Fett finds time for leisurely reading. His interests in books range from the legal, such as those written by his "hero," famous trial lawyer Gerry Spence, to the philosophical, such as "The Road Less Traveled," by Scott Peck.
Fett said he doesn't travel much but will sometimes take his wife, Meg, their five children, and Chloe, their golden retriever, on trips to northern Michigan. And sometimes Fett takes Chloe, "a wonderful fishing dog," along the Huron River chain to catch bass or pike.
Then it's back to law - a career he's wanted since he was a fourth-grader watching "Perry Mason" episodes on television.
Fett said he wants to be known as "an attorney who puts his client's interests first," because it's the "benchmark of a professional."
"The best way for me is to be professional and that's the only way I can get up in the morning and look at myself in the mirror," Fett said. "I will go the distance. If I make a commitment, I will carry it through."
