On 4/19/2006 at 11:34 PM Jim Leonard wrote:
I must have the wrong background, then. My
father-in-law is a public
defender and I know he doesn't make much defending murder suspects, etc.
I think your father has chosen a noble calling. But tort law isn't
criminal law--it's an alternate reality. Most often, tort cases are "won"
by the party that manages to stay in the ring the longest--sort of like a
boxing match. And that match often continues far past a TKO. Verdicts
are often reduced or overturned after years of appeals.
Up until the Federal class-action reform legislation was enacted a couple
of years ago, there were a great many attorneys who made their fortunes by
exploiting various states' class-action statutes. Does your notebook's
battery only give 1 hour and 45 minutes of service when the manufacturer
advertised that it would deliver "approximately 2 hours"? Stir the pot,
find a few (4 or 5) folks who bought the system and who line up on your
side, file in New Jersey and you could claim to be a class representing ALL
customers who bought that particular computer. The goal is to force the
manufacturer into a settlement, not actually to go to trial. You take your
hunk of the action and everyone else gets sent a $50 coupon good on their
next notebook purchase.
So who wins? The manufacturer? Nope. The customers? Not really--very
few will use the $50 coupon. The attorneys? You betcha! A new Jag and a
month skiing in Gstaad at least.
Like it or not (mostly I don't), torts are part of our justice system.
Thank heavens criminal law doesn't work the same way.
Cheers,
Chuck