Personal Injury (Tort) Lawyers

Tort law emerged as a means for an individual to seek compensatory damages against another party’s negligence when no contractual obligation is in place. In essence, a noble remedy to right a wrong. Unfortunately, the modern day practice has been hijacked by the professions bottom feeders. It has evolved from suing businesses that make harmful products or negligent doctors to open game on all perceived misdeeds. These parasites file countless lawsuits that tie up an already overloaded system. It’s not about the truth or helping the ‘little guy’ anymore, it’s all about creating a victim and suing the institution with the deepest pockets. They demonize professions, shakedown industries and pay so called “experts” to fog the facts and prey on a jury’s sympathy. And it works!
A prime example was the breast implant scare in the early 90’s. Lawyers claimed silicone from implants could leak causing cancer and autoimmune diseases and Dow Corning, the maker of silicon breast implants, was responsible. The lawyer’s brought in doctors to testify that Dow’s reckless behavior had resulted in 1% of woman with implants to develop connective tissue disease. However, what they neglected to reveal was that 1% of woman without implants also had the disease. Dow’s lawyers have some responsibility for not impugning this more convincingly but the publicity spectacle unleashed by the lawyers on the airwaves “Your implants may be causing cancer, autoimmune…etc” was too much to overcome. The result: several multi-million dollar verdicts and Dow Corning filing for bankruptcy.
Although these extortionist are willing to battle in the court room, their main objective is to get companies to settle! They attack like piranha until the carcass is bare. Trial lawyers lost over 700 lawsuits against the tobacco industry before finally winning one. Once the flood gates had opened, a settlement was reached for $206 billion to stop the onslaught. The most relentless barrage has come against the asbestos industry. Along with the manufacturers, they sued companies that had ‘any’ connection to the industry (Owens-Corning, Federal Mogul, Kaiser Aluminum, Sears, Ford, GM, Chrysler….etc). Many ended up filing for bankruptcy. The lawsuits continue and the final toll is expected to exceed $200 billion. Hey, both industries had scumbag executives who covered up the risks for their own selfish gain and the results were devastating to many people. But the reality is most of those responsible are long gone or dead as well as most of the victims.
The lawyers recent assault has been on the pharmaceutical industry, most notably the pain medication Vioxx manufactured by Merck & Co. Thousands of lawsuits have already been filed and some already adjudicated. A few things to ponder… Merck did recall Vioxx and I don’t know the extent, if any, of their culpability but what about the mass majority of individuals who used Vioxx with positive results. How much suffering have they endured because of the recall? Maybe other pain medications don’t work as well for them. Didn’t the FDA approve the drug after it successfully went through their labyrinth of obstacles and regulations? (On average, it takes 10-12 years and an investment of $900 million to get a drug to market) Much of the money Merck is spending to defend itself, and eventually payout in settlements, would be put into R&D to develop new drugs that could better people’s lives. Will other drug makers eventually pull their painkillers for fear of lawsuits? Let’s see how it plays out.
The most destructive aspect of this is the trial lawyer’s success in convincing us we’re all just victims. It has become a reflex for many to utter “I’m gonna sue” if we slip on the wet pavement, are offended by another’s words or actions…etc. We relinquish our own responsibility so we can blame someone else and get ‘ours’. The lawyers are the pusher and we’re the addicts in this game. There is a fix to stop much of this nonsense. It’s called ‘loser pays’ and most advanced countries already use it. If you file a lawsuit and lose, you pay the defendants court costs. But guess who has one of the most powerful PAC’s in Washington. That’s right! It’s The Association of Trial Lawyers of America. When you include the PAC’s contributions with the individual and soft money (now called 527 committees) donations, they are the largest political contributors ensuring the good ol’ boys on the Hill don’t change the current racket.
In closing, any individual that knowingly lies or intentionally covers up the associated risks deserves punishment and the victims just compensation. Sadly, with the current tactics employed by the lawyers this correlation continues to get skewed. They have successfully blurred the line between actual negligence and personal responsibility and in the process have enriched themselves to the rest our detriment. Way to go guys! Maybe people will eventually wake up and see the damage these people do far outweighs any good that comes from it. But, I doubt it.

Some notable parasites:
John Edwards
Former NC Senator and V.P. candidate
Product liability and medical mal-practice most notably cerebral palsy cases
In a case where he represented a cerebral palsy patient, Jennifer Campbell, he uttered the following in his closing arguments "I have to tell you right now – I didn't plan to talk about this – right now I feel her [Jennifer], I feel her presence...[Jennifer's] inside me and she's talking to you." …What nauseating bullshit!

Peter Angelos
Owner of the Baltimore Orioles
Product liability most notably asbestos cases
He stated “If it wasn’t for the American lawyer, your basic civil rights today would be gone” …Thank goodness they’re looking out for us!

Link to some frivolous lawsuits:
http://www.power-of-attorneys.com/stupid_lawsuit_collection.asp?wacky=0

Sources:
http://www.ppdi.com/corporate/faq/about_drug_development/home.htm

http://usgovinfo.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=usgovinfo&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.opensecrets.org%2Forgs%2Flist.asp%3Forder%3DA

http://www.triallawyersinc.com/html/part10.html

John Stossel, Give Me A Break
John Banzaff, Antitobacco activist
Michael Horowitz, The Hudson Institute