the issue I have on tort reform is class actions

Post #65,061 by boxley 11/26/02 12:56:19 AM Reply	the issue I have on tort reform is class actions In Jupiter Florida we have a lawyer who has his own personal 747 to get to cases. My thinking is more power to him until I learn that as a ford owner I am part of a class that gets a settled $300.00 discount on a new vehicle if I register for the class and the attourneys get $300 million to split(amongst a lot of attourneys I imagine) Tort reform I would like to see is that class action suits upon winning one attourney fees are davis baconed instead of a split of the award. The lawyers would be paid an hourly rate and all expended fees and the "class" would get the award. Now this might limit lawyers wanting to gamble on big cases but not as much as you might think. If the case is egregious enough, a lawyer will take it. A quick spin into federal court when a class extends across state lines would stop Jury hunting as well. thanx, bill will work for cash and other incentives [link\|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/resume/Resume.html\|skill set] GRAYBOAR-Strangleur Extraodinaire "Have Thumbs Will Travel" Customised Asphyxiations No Gullet Too Big, No Weasand Too small My Motto Satisfaction Garoteed, or the Chokes on Me! Eric Flint
Post #65,075 by mhuber 11/26/02 1:53:42 AM Reply	My proposal for a reform: The lawyers take their share in the same form as the plaintiffs. Got this idea when I got a "settlement" from a BlockBuster Video lawsuit. No, I didn't file for it, it appeared on my receipt when I rented a video. Anyway, the settlement was a set of coupons, identical in form and value to those that the company was in the habit of giving out for promotional purposes anyway. So I got maybe $10 worth of "buy one get one free" that cost the company (assuming the older coupon strategy was not a mistake) literaly less than nothing (net) and I realized that some law firm was getting $5 worth of liquid currency for getting me that. A few weeks earlier I got a letter to the effect that a cruise ship company had overcharged me (as a member of a class) for docking fees or some such. I got, and my wife got, $25 coupons off the cost of our next cruise. Those coupons have expired - cruises are a luxury we can only afford once in a very long time, and $25 each doesn't shorten that time by much. But I'm sure the law firm got their 30% in a form they could deposit at the bank. Now, maybe if the lawyers got what the plaintiffs got, things would work out a bit differently. And the other reform: no closed court records except for blacking out very specificaly identified trade or personal secrets that do not materialy affect the outcome. ---- Whatever
Post #65,165 by jb4 11/26/02 1:08:36 PM Reply	Hey, I LIKE it! good idea...never pass our Corporate Senate, tho.... jb4 "They lead. They don't manage. The carrot always wins over the stick. Ask your horse. You can lead your horse to water, but you can't manage him to drink." Richard Kerr, United Technologies Corporation, 1990

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