When the lawyers get the same compensation as their client, I'll believe they are motivated by altruism and not gaming the system. When the clients get hundreds or even a few thousand, and the lawyers get millions, I'll remain skeptical and jaded.
1/3 is less than 2/3. Medical malpractice gets into the 50/50 territory (at least in my state) but you basically have to have a wrong leg cut off, or the doc's Rolex stuck in your gut to even have a reputable firm take your case, because it's too expensive and risky to litigate those types of cases, and you literally have to have a reputable MD come into a courtroom and say "yep, that doctor killed his patient". You can imagine how many doctors are lined up to testify against their peers.
Never met a class-action plumber yet - all the ones I know do the work each time it needs doing, not do the job once and then claim it benefits a thousand folks so they should get thousands of times their normal fee.
Thousands of times their normal fee? Where do you get your information? Do you know what kind of work goes into complex class action litigation? A single client couldn't afford to pay the paralegal time on such a case, much less the attorney fees. I'm talking about hundreds and thousands of hours for each attorney and paralegal working the case. To say nothing of expenses. The firm gets nothing if the case tanks, and the client pays nothing. Often, more than one firm is involved. One lawyer is not raking in all of the fees. Everyone who works the case is being compensated. Again, tell me another professional that does contingency work.
Hetland,
Comparing asbestos and Bextra is like comparing apples to oranges. I agree that many developed mesothelioma due to no fault of their own but the risks of Bextra were listed in excruciating detail well before it even hit the market. As for Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, it has been known for quite some time that sulfa drugs (such as Bextra) and very rarely NSAIDs can cause it. The cox2 inhibitor cases are a classic example of lawyers riding the gravy train of perception of evil and not reality.
Agreed on the apples and oranges. Disagree on the Bextra. I took Bextra, and had never even heard of SJS until after the cox-2 drugs were pulled. But it's not that people were not warned about heart issues with the class of drugs, it's that the actual risk of such was significantly understated. The two people I know with valid cox-2 claims were both healthy non-smokers until they had massive heart attacks (one died on the table and was brought back). If that known risk was intentionally minimized, then the folks responsible need to be taken to the shed and whipped. The next time they try such a thing, it may be your kid's meds that are at issue.
Like cops, everyone hates a lawyer until they need one.
