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From: mmar@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Mitchell Marks)
Newsgroups: net.legal,net.flame
Subject: Re: Liability Lawsuits Getting Out of Hand
Message-ID: <896@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 27-Jul-85 03:52:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: sphinx.896
Posted: Sat Jul 27 03:52:21 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 29-Jul-85 05:52:37 EDT
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Organization: U Chicago -- Linguistics Dept
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Xref: watmath net.legal:1909 net.flame:11373

> Another suggestion to cut down on litigation:
> 
> How about having a separate determination of awards and penalties.
> In this way, if an individual is suing a corporation, there could
> be a large penalty against the corporation, but a smaller award to the
> plaintiff.  The lawyers for the plaintiff can only be payed out of the
> reward, so this would cut down on legal fees.  The extra cash can be
> put into a fund to be used to pay for cases where the penalty is
> smaller than the reward.
> 
There's a pernicious assumption here, that it's WRONG for the plaintiffs'
lawyer to receive substantial fees.  Why?  The system of allowing contingent
fees (a percentage of the award) is what enables ordinary people to
find decent counsel and bring suit against powerful corporations.  The
plaintiff's lawyer often has substantial out-of-pocket expenses, which
are pure loss on cases that are lost; this imade up on the won cases.
	Read the four-part series on the asbestos cases in The_New_Yorker
last month.  If it hadn't been for the contingent-fee system, and for
some brave and committed lawyers working with the first few bold plaintiffs,
the evidence of this horrendous occupational-health disaster (and the
cover-up) would never have been dug out.
	Nor do I understand the tone of some comments on malpractice suits.
There are reasonable things to be said on all sides, but it gets quite
stupid when someone argues from the attitude that doctors are noble, 
put-upon healers while plaintiffs are litigious complainers and lawyers
are greedy ambulance-chasers.  Come off it!  (Not directed to the author
of posting quoted above.)
-- 

            -- Mitch Marks @ UChicago 
               ...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!mmar