I think that if someone has been cheated out by a lawyer that he (the lawyer) should respond to all those who he has wronged. In other words, if a lawyer is consistenly ripping of there clients, then one should be able to voice - clearly - what transpired between the attorney and the clients.

If the attorney feels he is being defamed then he can take whatever recourse he wants. But he needs to respond to all rants that are posted, and then we as people will read both sides and decide if we want to hire this attorney or not. It is sort of like the BBB (Better Business Bureau). Could you please respond, and when you do, could you please include your name(s).

Editor's Note: In the sue first and ask questions later society we live in today, naming "names" on a forum such as this is just begging to get hammered with a lawsuit. The Rant and Rave section is for venting - not for slamming the lawyer by name (although more than a hand full do indeed deserve to have their sorry names drug through the dirt).

Many times, large corporate entities break the law.

I've seen and heard stuff that would turn your stomach. Companies that go to third world countries and change the health laws to make a buck, while thousands sicken from their copper poisoning. Companies that lie to their employees about the chemicals they are using, all the employees get cancer. Companies that make cold calculations about how much your life is worth (according to Ford, $20,000) so that they can save $15 on defective gas tanks. The list goes on and on.

Sometimes they break the law just a little, millions of times over. In these cases, they screw every single one of their customers out of $5 each, but make an extra billion in bonuses for the CEOs and board of directors. Enrons, Monsantos, etc. etc. the list goes on and on.

Everytime a plaintiff's lawyer files a lawsuit, they seek to enforce the law. When they file a class action, it is because the company has broken the law thousands of times, in little (or big!) ways.

I'm all about personal responsibility and accountability. It is what makes the nation great. These companies break the law AND THEY must be held accountable.

But there is a team of elitist, "liberal," ivy league weeny lawyers out there, who will do anything they can to let the corporations get away with breaking the law.

Every single complaint here should be directed to the lawyers on the other side of the table. These are the jerks who fought tooth and nail against you in the courtroom, delayed your settlement and ruined your credit. These soulless jerks do not care if they are wrong, they will delay, argue, fight, and bicker for every dime, clogging the legal process and tying up your case for years. They make endless, pointless motions and objections, just to charge their client an extra couple thousand dollars, and delay your settlement until you run out of money.

As an aside, if you think the plaintiff's bar charges too much, consider this, the defense bar charges thousands an hour, AND, even if they mess it up and lose the case, you still pay!

These, the corporate lawyers and their inhuman clients, are the greedy soulless leaches on the american system. Why don't you write a book about that?

How the defense bar manipulates the law, lobbies the congress, uses shameless discovery tactics, to drain the other side dry and force them to settle for less than they deserve, EVEN WHEN THEY KNOW THEY BROKE THE LAW. These are the crooks and the liars that ruin the legal system.

Sandra says without lawyers "means you people wouldn't be able to litigate NOTHING!"

Actually the word should be ANYTHING.

People are the ones that decide to litigate stupid matters, not the lawyer. Nobody is holding a gun to their head. In other words, if you are not happy with something and feel like you should be compensated for in some shape or form. So, therefore, lawyers are not to blame for the litigation that is going on in this world.

Another thing, one man's story that I read was right on the dot. The lawyers job is to interpret the law so people like you and me don't have to spend the time (and trust me it would take a lot of time) doing it. Without lawyers, there would be no litigation. Which means there would be no ranting. Which means you people wouldn't be able to litigate NOTHING! You wouldn't be compensated for what you feel you should be compensated for.

One last thing, if you do feel your lawyer has not been ethical, you can contact your state's bar and make a report. Saying that, in the end, if they find the violation "reasonable," the lawyer could be disbared. Thank you for your time and good luck!

Editor's note: So lawyers have absolutely nothing to do with a lawsuit getting filed? Come on, you need to get serious (and lay off the hooch before you start writing next time). While you generally do need a stupid plaintiff to file a stupid lawsuit, it takes two to tango. And thousands of lawyers nationwide are more than willing to jump at the chance to take these stupid lawsuits to court.

Price Tag $100,000.00 (He quoted he wanted my new home, and my two cars, one of which is my law school student daughter's.<

I'm 28, an attorney, no debt, gorgeous wife, beautiful kids, beach house w/ boat, and oh yea, a check for last month's 1 case in the amount of $221,000. Thanks fellas! Now, back to work. Life is sooo good!

The injury was totally uncalled for and the other party was definitely at fault. I went with a lawyer on a contigency basis, I told him that I was really concerned with my credit, as I was just about to graduate college and I wanted to make sure my credit remained outstanding.

He told me that he understood my concern with credit and would do everything he could to prevent collection. Three years later the dumb f*** finally got a settlement for me. It was about $30,000. The lawyer immediately took his 30% from the top, negotiated my outstanding medical bills (who knows, he probably got them reduced by 60% and told me that he negotiated them down to 20%).

Long story short.... I now suffer the pain and have about two pounds of metal in my ankle and all I got out of the deal was $4,000. It's great that these scum bag lawyers really care about their clients welfare and well being as they drive to the nearest BMW dealer to buy their kid a new car. Screw lawyers.

Thank you for having a place for us to vent.

We have been wating nine years and still no final paper work from the court. Meaning we cannot sell the property. We currently reside in another state. Our Attorneys kept promising things would be wrapped up in six months! Six months turned into nine years and over $30,000 taken from my now 74 year old father who is the executor of the estate. After stealing this money from us they would not return our phone calls or answer our letters. We have written the Grievence committee..... open and shut case three times! Bar association, District Attorney's office.

The lawyers respond back to these agencies with nice letters stating they're doing the best they can! With no explaination as to what has taken nine years. Another committee has just contacted the Law firm. They wrote us saying the Lawyer just had major surgery and is undergoing treatment. Lies, Lies, Lies and more lies. Everyone said to us why dont you get new attorneys? Cant afford any, after $30,000 has been paid out to one firm.

Is it wrong for us to feel that our attorney should render the services they were paid in advance to perform? Why are the clients made to feel like we are the enemy? Meanwhile, we have our immediate bills and still are responsible for property taxes. Property taxes that we have been struggeling to pay for nine years, going on ten. I have been recommended to other attorneys, however no one wants to touch this case.

One lawyer I was recommended to said I will take the case. A couple days later he had his receptionist call and leave a recorded message stating to mail $5,000.00 to his office in order for him to start the case. I talked to this man once! I had not gone over the details of the case or given him the case file number. The nerve! A message left by the receptionist on the answering machine? How tacky is that!

I got something for him allright! And it ain't $5,000.00!Has anybody ever gone through such a thing? We recently wrote the Judge explaining our situation. He immediatley issued a order of Citation, meaning the property would be in the Newspaper for a week. Mind you this had been done before earlier in the case! But hey, what did we have to lose. We were contacted by the paper. Guess what they needed? $2,500.00 to publish the ad. The ad was published, lawyers were told to be at a scheduled court date as per the judge. To date we never found out what happened at that court date. Attorneys never contacted us. When we called to the court they stated we could not get any information. It was our job to communicate with our attorney! Thats what the clerk told me. What was the purpose for this ad?

Here we stand months later and still don't know what that was about! Vengence is mine sayeth the Lord. These people will pay dearly for what they have done to innocent people! We have gone through blood, sweat and tears. The blood is on there hands! They will be held accountable for all their wrongs.

The very 1st day of the trial she told me "it doesn't look good for you, the judge doesn't like you". But she would never explained why or what I did for this judge not to like me except to say he believes I was doing drugs. I asked her to seek another judge, but she said it was too late.

The trial proceeded and every day I heard the same thing, you're not going to win, because of the way the judge feels. Contrary to popular belief, the jury did side with me, they awarded me $12,000.000.00 and gave no fault to me, but 80% to a major automobile company for product liability and 20% to the defendant. But of course the judge called back the award citing a JNOV and asserting 50% of the fault to me. He further stated he should have called the trial to an end after 3 days instead of letting it go on for 2 1/2 weeks.

The decision was appealed and was upheld of course by the 4th circuit court of appreals. The Supreme Court refused to consider it.

Where is the justice here? First of all, the defendant was not given a ticket for hitting from behind. The law here says if you hit from behind a ticket is to issued. Not so in my case. 2nd: Can a judge just call back a decision because of the way he feels? 3rd: Why was there a need for a jury when the judge had already made up his mind as to what the decision was going to be? 4th: The witnesses stated they saw the accident about to happen, but instead of taking the exist which was before the accident they choose to try and pass the accident. The the husband states he was coming back to help but started throwing up, so he gave his card to a "black" man and told him to give it to the police. However according to the police and the defendant there was no black man on scene as witness, nor were they any witnesses at all who gave either of them a statement. But these witnesses statement were accepted by the judge.

Also stated was that my lights were off and vehicle not working. The car was pushed up the ramp of the overpass and the lights found on according to police report. Again the judge accepts witnesses statement that lights were off and vehicle not working. The police was a joke also, he couldn't remember anything! My companion at the time pulled me from the fire, it was said he was driving the car at one time, which is an outright lie. If this is true, then why was a settlement made with him several years ago? When I asked my attorney why didn't she bring this up, she said it would not have made a difference. My attorney told my sister not to come back to court because the other attorney might want to question her, so my sister did as she said and stayed home. My companion was told after he tesitfied he could stay home because he couldn't hear the tesitmony of the other witnesses. My doctor did defend my because he has copies of records were I tested positive for drugs, but it was because I was administered drugs by paramedics and hospital staff.

Before the verdict was given my attorney tried to talk my sister into stopping the trial or trying to get me to call it off. I stood firm and said I would wait for the jury decision.

I have yet to speak to my attorney, her associate called me to tell me of the decision of the appeals court and supreme court.

Again where is the justice in this case!

59 PERCENT OF SENATORS ARE LAWYERS AND ABOUT A THIRD OF CONGRESSMAN. SIMILIAR HUGE PERCENTAGES ARE PRESENT AT THE STATE AND LOCAL LEVEL. TRIAL LAWYERS AND THERE ELECTED COMRADES ARE RIPPING OFF THIS COUNTRY FOR ABOUT $300 BILLION/YEAR.

EVERYONE SUFFERS. SPREAD THE TRUTH AND BECOME INFORMED. THIS FIGHT WILL TAKE YEARS TO WIN BUT WE MUST BEGIN BY GETTING THEM OUT OF OFFICE.

LAWYERS would have to be hired to handle the litigation, interpret the law. Remember, you can always go pro se (by yourself) in litigation. Most (smart) people hire lawyers because lawyers know the law. I doubt that many laypersons would be able to be successful in winning a claim just by telling a sob story. A lawyer knows the nuances of the law... while it may seem corrupt, if you knew anything about the law, you would know that oftentimes, they are just doing what the law allows.

However, most people who rant and rave are ignorant to the workings of the profession and must be forgiven for their ignorance.

Editor's Note You do not mention whether you are an attorney or not, but if your 'inference' is that anyone who does not believe that every single lawyer is good guy is ignorant - then you've got your head way too far up your rear to be taken seriously here.

Let me explain…..

In 1992 I purchased a vacan t13 acre parcel of potential development land in a backward little small town. When I bought the land it had corn growing on it which was a ‘permitted nonconforming use’ (being the land is zoned residential). I continued to farm corn or beans until 1999.

In 1999 I chose to convert the field to a hay field and also used it for recreational purposes. I was never able to harvest my hay because it contained too many weeds. In 2004 I succumbed to the weeds and returned to corn. The Village blew a gasket and filed a law suit against me. They say that when the field was a hay field it was not being used for agricultural purposes so I lost my privilege for a ‘permitted nonconforming use’. It’s been taxed as farmland all the way through and farm service says, “it’s a farm”.

Our federal government has a program where they pay farmers not to plant commodity crops (corn, beans, small grains). Such ground remains idle, but is still considered farmland and in agricultural use.

To make matters worse, the same attorney who represented me when I purchased the land has turned coat and is the plaintiff’s attorney.

I think I should sell ears of corn from the field to raise funds for my defense. A symbol of how “A MAIZE ING’ stupid frivolous law suits can be.

Isn't family court (being that it is held in secret and does not follow any of the "due process" rules) actually illegal, or at the very least - unconstitutional. The term "family court" is an oxymoron. A family is a unit in which members are supportive of each other and court is where opponents try to tear each other apart.

The goal of FC is to break up the family unit and get as many of its members into the "system" so that payments go through them and add to their numbers thereby increasing the federal govt. contributions to their department. This gives them higher salaries and more positions in which to place their relatives, campaign donors and other political cronies.

Children here are routinely removed from good homes with loving parents and awarded to foster and adoption agencies (or rich families) in exchange for campaign donations and bribes. The families receiving these children believe they are getting kids who were actually neglected or abused. Removal of children is one of the ways in which local govt. officials get revenge against their personal enemies or political rivals. Caring parents will spend every cent they have and even sell their home to get their kids back. They end up bankrupt and if their child gets placed out of state they will even move to continue fighting for their child. Of course they can never win against the whole govt. machine! It is sickening.

In 2001, I wrote a builders risk policy (oh, yes, I'm an insurance agent) for Mr. & Mrs. P (not their real names). They have been in the motel business for years and this is not the first motel they built. A disgruntled employee burned the building down shortly before the completion of the motel. They received the full policy limits.

A year later, a co-worker and I bought the agency, so now we are the owners. Eight months later we receive suit papers, Mr. & Mrs. P obtained a lawyer, Mr. I, alledging all kinds of things, short of stating I should have slept at the job site to keep it safe. The depositions start, and to my surprise, Mr. I (attorney) is also their new insurance agent. No wonder the depositions were held in "We'll take care of you Agency."

You have to remember that Mr. I is both an insurance agent and attorney, the P's asked and received exactly what they requested and paid for. Not once during the proceedings they state they advised me to increase the building limits. Mr. I is basing his case on a statement made by Mrs. P that they were over budget.

I am sorry, they are professionals, they were acting as their own contractor, she was fully aware of their policy limits because the day of the fire, she told me that they were underinsured. The past 15 months have been pure hell. I have a large box under my desk filled with correspondences, copies of depositions, copies of records. During the summary judgment proccedings it came to my attention that Mr. I's expert witness is not only a co-worker at the insurance agency but the owner of the agency.

No, I do not feel bad for the P's but I feel that they are being taken to the cleaners. Yes, our side own the summary judge, the judge wrote a VERY lengthly opinion stating that I did nothing wrong. It just angers me to think that Mr. I doesn't make enough money being an attorney so he becomes an insurance agent and waits for anyone to cross his path with a compliant about an insurance agent, bang, he's got another sucker on the line.

Not only does he get the commission from a sale, his boss receives pay for being an expert witness and Mr. I really doesn't care who is right or wrong, it's just money in his pocket. So now I have to sit and wait for the outcome of their appeal. I truly feel targeted by this agent/attorney and the agency in which he operates out of because I feel it is clearly a conflict of interest. In my box of treasures is documentation of six meetings in which Mr. & Mrs. P, Mr. I and the expert witness prior to the suit being brought against our agency. And under oath the P's state they were not aware of Mr. I being an insurance agent, but asked if Mr. I signed the binder for insurance for the P's 2 months prior to suit. Mr. I admitted that it was his signature but the P's were shocked to hear Mr. I was an insurance agent! What did they think?, that their new agent/expert witness has an attorney along for their benefit!

I'm sorry, it's one thing to be sued and it's another to see a scam being ran. My E & O rates are high enough as it is without a smart ass agent/attorney spinning his wheels on a case that he should know has no prayer in hell. The P's acted as their own general contractor, of course they can't sue themselves, so the next best thing is to sue the agent. Mr. I can't sue the insurance company because he is also licensed by them to write business so why would he think of rocking that boat! Do I feel bad that the P's are sending their money on Mr. I's scam, not at all! Mr. I is showing the P's that they do not have to be accountable for their actions or lack of actions because they now have an agent/attorney and some day he will find himself on the hot seat because he clearly is taking their money for<

The person who had the beef with our gazebo was the mother of the woman who lived next door. She sued us for property violations because she thought the gazebo was too close to her daughter's bay window.

She was right, we were actually too close to the end of the lot, but not to the side, where her daughter lived. If we were to spend thousands of dollars moving the gazebo, we would have had to move it further towards the front of the lot, right in front of her bay window!

The court saw the frivolty in this case and let us leave it be! Yay!

I would have thought much more since there is an urgency by the president to do something about Medical Liability.

Editor's Note: That number you quote is well below the estimated costs of frivolous litigation - which is in the hundreds of BILLIONS annually.<

Not all lawyers are bad people. Many really want to help people and aren't moneygrubbing. For example, I want to be a public defender. They make $35,000 a year and get about 150 cases a month. I spent $150,000 for college and $100,000 for law school just to make $35,000 a year as a P.D. Don't tell me that I'm just in for the money.

In addition, sometimes people need to blame THEMSELVES for getting screwed. Before hiring an attorney, you should do your research on that person. Then you won't have to worry about getting screwed. You woudn't hire a babysitter that you're paying $5.00/hr without getting info about their background, so why hire someone you might be paying $500/hr without checking them out?