Scum of the Earth: John Edwards and the Trial Lawyers

Of course, companies should be punished more heavy handed than individuals when wrong is done, but there should be some guidelines to go by at the very least, so that the damages is not unlimited...

 

The work of lawyers:

 

Just accept defeat.

 

so because of the acts of a few trial lawyers, you hate the whole group. I don't think we want to hear your opinions on certain minority groups. You know, if you focus your hate more, instead of throwing poo in a general direction, you might be able to make more logical arguments.

 

That picture...

 

El Cankersore, that might be true, if you equate being "VINDICATED" with being busted like a 15 year old watching Cinemax on a Friday Night with your fly down.

 

Shouldn't the blame fall on the jury if they hand out an award to frivilous suit?

 

Did you get that out of "Fight Club?" It might only be a few million here or hundred of thousand there, but don't forget about the thousands of small businesses that are pushed out of business every year by lawsuits...some worthy, some not.

This country is lawsuit crazy, trying to make a quick buck off someone else, not caring whether they destroy somebodies way of living or not...and MANY trial lawyers feed off this greed.

And who is hurt? In the big corporations...not the rich, not the powerful, not the shareholders so much...the average Joes that get downsized...that's who. Count on people like you and me being unemployed every time one of these trial lawyers wins...heck...they don't even have to win...they just have to bug the company enough to extort money in a settlement.

Who else is hurt? Well, you and I. There are many, helpful products that have been pulled off the market, that have never actually had anything proven wrong with them...PLUS...we ALL pay to make up for the cost to the corporation.

So when you go buy that next stroller for your baby....an extra $20 from you to pay for some lawsuits...you go to buy that house from ANY builder...an extra $5,000 because products are making up the cost of lawsuits...you go to buy that car...$1,200 because of lawsuits.

I'm not saying Edwards is this kind of guy...but MANY of these kind of lawyers are.

 

don't hate the players, hate the game. You act as if trial lawyers are the sole contributor for all the woes. You ignore the prosecutor, the jury, and the judge, let alone the entire system. Yes the system is imperfect, but without it there would be no way to punish those who are negligent. Think about how people would handle their problems if they didn't have a civil court to do it in? Yes, some of the cases are ridiculous, but most of the time, they are thrown out, SOME get through and we hear about it because of media and public interest.

If you are an adult, you should realize that there are no perfect systems and that sometimes in order to protect everyone, you may create loopholes for those taking advantage of the system. Remember, a lawyer's responsibility is not to "suck the blood" out of corporations, but to represent those who want to suck the blood, or demand recompensation for negligence.

The trial lawyers are actors, not unlike soldiers (although getting paid much more), who do the dirty work for the client, not unlike armies to leaders of countries. There may be "evil armies" like ones in North Korea or Iran, but there are also good ones. You can dislike certain soldiers, but you can't hate them all when you need them. Trial lawyers are no different, they are merely part of the system, you blame those who use them improperly.

After all, don't you support your troops?

 

The what? The jury? What's that?

Lawyers don't make the decisions. Ultimately, people like you and me do. (And I know you can go into a discussion about the role of a jury and its possible stupidity all by itself.)

 

Wow, I'd like to check some of your facts but I don't have time.

Anyway, just so you know, most of the time when you hear about huge awards being handed out, the funds don't come from the company, they come from the insurers, which usually supervise the defense and have the chance to settle beforehand but sometimes choose to roll the dice and lose.

They don't get driven out of business because of it though -- rather it is the cost of doing business. They're in the business of gambling, essentially, and they ususally represent the house. WHile bad insurance companies that write bad risks do go out of business, that's just because they're bad at what they do. Now, higher costs do provide an excuse for them to raise premiums in certain instances, but I harbor serious doubts as to whehter tort reform is going to drop these down any, as it apparently hasn't in Texas.

Otherwise, it's a remarkably profitable business, and though it's remarkably boring, I've had a lot of experience with people at the higher levels who make a remarkable amount of money while working remarkably few hours and doing a remarkable amount of drinking on the side. It's a high margin game, where billion dollar reinsurance deals are still written down on the back of cocktail napkins after three martini lunches -- the kind of stuff that makes corporate lawyers go nuts. Downsizing etc? That kind of stuff is going to happen regardless, so I wouldn't pin that on anything.

I've seen lots of abuses on both sides of the table, but anyway that is something to keep in mind.

 

In 1993, A postal worker and his trial lawyer wasted my time and a couple dozen Houston citizens when they tried to sue me for $250,000.00...That's a lot of money. It scared me to death...For 2 1/2 days I sat in the courtroom with 12 angry people staring at me...

The lawsuit was that because I lost control of my vehicle in front of a postal vehicle, and due to this the postal vehicle crashed into another vehicle...My car did a 180 degree spin on I-45 near the Greenspoint exit...I hit a curb, and thought my car made vehicular contact...I exchanged information with the driver of the postal truck, but after realizing that I didn't hit anyone, I proceeded back to where I was going...

Well, well,...a few weeks I get this letter from this idiotic attorney, and the driver saying they want a quarter of a million dollars!

This is frivulous, and several, if not many jurors, excused themselves by stating they could not continue to serve since they
perconceived a bias on the existance of such a case...(They ask this type of question to the pool of potential jurors)

A couple even came to me to offer reassurance and disregard for what was happening...I was only 21, and felt my life was going to be ruined...

The amazing thing is that I won!...(Thank you State Farm Insurance defense attorney) The guy had to actually pay court costs and got ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from me...Not one cent...I guess he had to now get his money the hard way....Imagine that!

I had a party afterwards and a family celebration, but the horrible thing is I could have been a real victim...Beware...

 

Thanks for illustrating that there are both jerkhole trial lawyers (postal boy's weasel) and good trial lawyers (State Farm's attorney).

 

And, we should add, a system that works a lot of the time.

Also see the example where a judge laughed and dismissed lawsuits filed by obsese people against McDonalds et al.

 

Translation:

Some guy goes out and hires a lawyer to sue you and you contact your giant insurance company that sends another lawyer to save you.

Plus, I suspect there is more to this story (ie) how did you lose control of your car...





At any rate the system worked for you.

 

That story shows me that the system seems to work. Rox wasn't responsible, and the guy who brought suit had to pay for it.