Loser Pays Class Action Law
“In any negligence, malpractice, or a class action lawsuit of any kind, the loser of the lawsuit must pay the total cost of the winner’s legal fees.”
Ever see those commercials on T.V.?
“Have you had reactions to Exophyl? If any of the following have happened to you or a loved one after taking the drug Exophyl, you may be entitled to compensation:
Heart Problems;
High Blood Pressure;
Anxiety;
Death
Call the law offices of Weill, Sewim and Wynn at 1-800-ISUE–YOU for your free report.”
What is really happening here? The law office collects as many names as it can from greedy or sometimes genuinely adversely affected patients who see a financial windfall in their future.
Of course there are legitimate claims against negligent drug companies. Because there are justifiable reasons to sue drug companies, there has developed a cottage legal industry in which law firms sue large companies in class actions in the hopes the company just pays them to go away. Basically this is extortion 101 - the legal way.
The legal firm’s plan is to bury the targeted company in legal briefs and demands until they say uncle. The defendants don’t want to go to court even if they believe they were not guilty because it is very expensive to do so. Instead often they eventually settle the claim for $20 million dollars or so.
The proceeds are divided between the litigants; those the law firm convinced to get involved in the suit and the legal firm themselves. So if there were say 40,000 claimants, and 30 million dollar settlement, here is how it is divided:
Law Suite Settlement $30,000,000
Legal Fees 1/3 10,000,000
Settlement to plaintiffs 20,000,000
Divided by 40,000 plaintiffs so about $500 each.
In the above example, a $30 million dollar settlement may not be common, and maybe most don’t have so many plaintiffs, but it is just an example of one the tort lawyers strive to obtain. Each plaintiff in this case receives only $500 for their suffering. If the legal firm charges a third, which is common, they receive $10 million. It seems worthwhile for them to bury the pharmaceutical company under mounds of legal crappola, demands for disclosure, and other nastiness for this kind of a payoff.
My daughter worked for one of these tort firms and mentioned to me that a woman they had mass-mailed called and asked to speak with an attorney assigned to the case about her situation. The cracker-jack lawyer, defender of the abused, said he wouldn’t speak and to her to take her off the list. You see it isn’t profitable to spend even a few minutes with an actual client. The potential pay off from the suit involving hundreds or thousands of faceless people usually means no actual legal advice to plaintiffs. Sometimes it is too time consuming to bother with a phone call and actually speak with a client.
Many class action lawsuits are related to medical malpractice and adverse prescription drug side effects. Is it any wonder why medical costs are through the roof? Every medical test known to man must be performed to protect the clinic or physician from lawsuits. This is also one of the reasons why medical insurance costs are so high. Some doctors refuse to work in more difficult states because of their own malpractice insurance rates.
The directive here is for loser pays in all lawsuits. The medical and pharmaceutical areas seem to be wronged the most, but they are not the only victims. This would put a stop to a lot of this nonsense. Sure there would still be actions, but if the legal firm had to pay if they lost, they would think twice before burying the pharma-company, medical clinic, hospital or doctor under never-ending paperwork based on frivolous claims. The defendant companies also would be more willing to defend their case if they could recover costs should they win.
We have to stop using the threat of courts fatten our pocketbooks. If the loser is required to pay, far fewer frivolous lawsuits would be filed, costs would go down for everyone involved in the most affected industries, particularly medical and pharmaceutical companies.
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