Miles Lord
Miles Welton Lord was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.
Education and career
Born November 6, 1919, in Dean Lake, Minnesota, Lord served in the United States Army Air Forces from 1944 to 1945. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1946 from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Laws in 1948 from the University of [Minnesota Law School]. He entered private practice in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 1948 to 1951. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota from 1951 to 1952, returning to private practice from 1952 to 1954. He served as Attorney General of Minnesota from 1955 to 1960, returning to private practice from 1960 to 1961. He was the United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota from 1961 to 1966. While in private practice, Lord founded Lord & Associates Law Office, which is still operated by his descendants.Federal judicial service
Lord was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on February 10, 1966, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota vacated by Judge Dennis F. Donovan. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 28, 1966, and received his commission on April 28, 1966. He served as Chief Judge from 1981 to 1985. He assumed senior status on July 1, 1985. His service terminated on September 8, 1985, due to his retirement.Landmark decisions
In his first landmark and historic decision in 1973, when the processing plant at Silver Bay, Minnesota, was dumping 47 tons of waste rock into Lake Superior every minute, Lord ultimately forced Reserve to stop dumping the pollutants, taconite tailings. In the Reserve Mining decision, Lord said, "This court cannot honor profit over human life." Later, he pursued the A. H. Robins Company for malpractice in issuing the Dalkon Shield intrauterine device, which was on sale from 1970 to 1974 and caused at least 18 deaths and thousands of injuries. It was chronicled in the book, Lord's Justice, by Robert Wagman and Sheldon Engelmayer.The trial was for the injured, as he felt the deaths were too hard to "pinpoint the responsibility".
Lord's rebuke to the corporate heads held them personally accountable. To settle seven lawsuits, he made Robins' top three executive sign a $4.6 million settlement agreement and personally held them liable. The company ended up paying more than $220 million in compensation and $13 million in punitive damages to thousands of plaintiffs. In 1980 in the case of Shyamala Rajender versus the University of Minnesota, Lord ordered the university to desist from discrimination against women.
A judicial review panel met to determine if there were errors on his professional and judicial conduct in the Robbins case. Lord was cleared of wrongdoing and went on to serve another year until his retirement.