At 11:21 PM 4/19/06 -0700, you wrote:
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.
$50? HAH! I was an unwilling participant in a class action suit and my
award was 34 cents! I still have the check somewhere, it wasn't worth
cashing. That was for escrow account overcharges that costs me hundreds.
The lawyers got the rest.
Joe
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