The L’Aquila Trial: What are my options if my client or employer publicly misrepresents my views.
Martin Boozer, Attorney, and John Berry
Six leading Italian earth scientists and a civil servant were tried and convicted of manslaughter as a consequence of the supposedly falsely reassuring advice they gave just prior to the April 6th, 2009, L’Aquila earthquake, which killed 309 people. We use this trial as a starting point for a discussion of the options open to you if your organization misrepresents your professional evaluation of the risk posed to the public by a geological event. As part of this we will discuss the Texas whistleblower statute.