|
|
Second Verse, Same As The First.
We’d like to welcome you to this month’s issue
of the Lawyers Stink E-mail Newsletter. We certainly hope that you are
doing well and enjoying a lawyer free day (it’s getting tougher and
tougher to do these days) as we kick off a new year. Starting off a new
year on the right foot sometimes means new year’s resolutions; where we
attempt to break old habits and replace them with something much better in
their place. I wish we could say the same thing about lawyers. While
they’re starting off a new year too, sometimes it’s hard to teach old dogs
new tricks. But then again, maybe not.
Lawyers nationwide, ever the cunning lot, have learned a way to take an
old habit (suing asbestos makers and manufacturers) and make it a new
trick (suing everybody in sight). These money grubbing bloodhounds have
learned how to take an old habit, namely suing the hell out of the
asbestos industry, and finagle a way to squeeze out even more riches for
themselves. Let’s take a closer look.
Lawsuits against the asbestos industry are anything but new. As a matter
of fact, the mass tort litigation aimed at all facets of the asbestos
industry is the longest running string of lawsuits in American history.
Asbestos related lawsuits erupted on the scene over twenty years ago and
at this stage of the game, show absolutely no signs of letting up. Quite
the contrary.
It is estimated that asbestos related lawsuits are up over
fifty percent from a year ago. When you consider that well over twenty
billion dollars (that’s billions!) has already been paid out by insurers
and companies alike and asbestos litigation has resulted in dozens of
corporations being forced into bankruptcy (such as Owens-Corning, W.R.
Grace and U.S. Gypsum), we’ve got a big time problem on our hands. And
unfortunately, we’ve just the nicked the tip of the iceberg.
A quick history lesson is probably in order here. Asbestos was originally
hailed nationwide for its for fire retardant capacity decades ago. Through
the early 1970’s, asbestos was used for making insulation, roofing and
other products. Due to its widespread popularity and use in the
commercial, industrial and residential fields, a number of people were
exposed to asbestos. It has been determined that serious ailments,
including mesothelioma (a cancer) and asbestosis (a pulmonary disease),
can result from the exposure to asbestos.
Estimating how many people may have been exposed, the level and duration
of their exposure, the extent and cause of their illnesses, if any and how
many people may develop an asbestos related illness down the road is
proving a virtually impossible task. This uncertainty has opened the door
for a new wave of asbestos related lawsuits and has been exploited by
asbestos lawsuit crazed lawyers looking to cash in big time.
More and more claimants are coming out of the wood work with each passing
day,
thanks in no small measure to the incessant bombardment of television,
radio and newspaper advertisements sponsored by entrepreneurial lawyers
looking to dredge up tens of thousands of new clients. Personal injury
lawyers are well versed in the nuances of drumming up additional victims.
Without a whole lot of sweat, these enterprising lawyers have people
standing in line ten deep to sign up and get a piece of the action. While
this surge of new clientele is good for the lawyers looking to convert
these mass numbers of bodies into dollars for themselves, it could have
potentially devastating consequences to the rest of us (for more
information about asbestos related class action lawsuits, simply click
class action update.
People with legitimate injuries and those who may become sick from
asbestos exposure in the future are now thrown into a commingled mass of
claimants. As more and more companies bite the dust under the crushing
weight of unrelenting asbestos litigation, the ability of these deserving
people to get just compensation for their injuries becomes increasingly
jeopardized. This isn’t fair or right, but what’s fair and right got to do
with lawyers making a fortune?
Not surprisingly, the original group of defendants have been ostensibly
tapped out. Many of these companies have declared bankruptcy and are now
insolvent. Say what you will about lawyers, they are not fools. Realizing
that it’s hard to squeeze blood out of the proverbial turnip, the lawyers
had to go looking for greener pastures (as in cold, hard cash “green”) –
and they did.
These new and improved lawsuits seek out and systematically target
companies who did not make, manufacture or produce asbestos related
products, but merely used the products per the instructions. Even though
these companies had no knowledge that the product they were purchasing and
then using was potentially hazardous, they’re getting pummeled anyway.
Why? Come on, because they have money.
The original group have gone under
and as a result, are of little interest to money grubbing lawyers. Money
is and always be the only thing that counts when lawyers go looking for
someone to sue. Regardless of whether one has been determined to be sick
or not, he or she can now join the hundreds of thousands of individuals
and hordes of lawyers who are now suing anyone remotely related to the
asbestos industry. In Chapter 10 of our book,
Wake Up and Smell
the Lawyers, we uncover the art of the class action con game (click
book chapter summaries to read excerpts taken from the book).
Over 1,000 corporations have been named as defendants to date, including
many who didn’t do anything wrong but purchase a product that they thought
was safe. What fools! These companies read a like a who’s who of American
household names, including 3M, AT&T, Campbell Soup Company,
Colgate-Palmolive, Dow Chemical, DuPont, E & J Gallo Winery, Gerber
Products, Lockheed Martin, and a host of other companies.
We should
reasonably anticipate that virtually every company involved directly or
indirectly in the manufacturing and construction fields will eventually be
drawn into this circus. The Rand Institute for Civil Justice estimates
that the number of companies involved in asbestos litigation will
potentially grow to several times the 1,000 companies currently under
attack, thereby accounting for half of the industries in our economy.
This leads to an interesting question. What will become of the
profitability, let alone the viability, of these companies representing
half of our nation’s economy if they are drawn into this bottomless pit of
asbestos related litigation? What happens to their stock price if they are
forced to pay out tens of billions of dollars in this extortion plot being
perpetrated by lawyers nationwide? Will they go down the tubes like the
dozens of ill-fated companies preceding them who were mercilessly hammered
into submission from asbestos litigation?
And what of the stockholders in these companies? Are these people, many of
which are employees in these companies and have their 401(k) plans
invested in the company’s stock, going to be laid out to dry as lawyers
continue to work at siphoning every dollar at every company they can bring
suit against? Sure they are, but so what?
And what about the customers of these companies that become embroiled in
asbestos litigation? Won’t they have to pay more for the goods and
services they buy? Of course they will, but so what again?
As I speak to people around the country about rampant lawsuit abuse and
its disruptive influence on all of our lives, I am on occasion confronted
with a skeptical sort who believes that I’m grossly overstating the
lawsuit abuse problem. These cynics are quick to tell me how they fail to
see what the big fuss is all about and as a result, fail to understand why
in the world I’m wasting my time talking about what they perceive as a
nonexistent problem.
They reason that they haven’t been sued themselves, so lawsuit abuse
doesn’t really affect them or their way of life. They are so misinformed –
and are so wrong. Lawsuit abuse, especially the rampant abuse so
recklessly displayed in the asbestos related lawsuits that have
proliferated in the last several years, is spiraling out of control in
this country. All of us, every one of us, pays and pays big time for these
wanton abuses of the legal system (check out
stop lawsuit abuse on our
web-site).
People who deserve compensation should receive it -- and receive it in a
timely manner. Not only that, they should receive the bulk of any award or
settlement –not the greedy lawyers representing them.
Lawyers regularly
take 50% or more of any money awarded to those who are ill and receive
settlements or awards. Here’s a person who’s sick or disabled and now must
live with the illness or disability for the rest of his or her life. That
person’s lawyer then takes over half of the settlement or award and goes
looking for someone else to sue; while the victim must make due with
whatever is left over after the lawyer has absconded with the lions’ share
of the money. That’s immoral and truly makes me sick to my stomach.
As far as the people who are not sick are concerned, which comprise the
upwards of ninety percent of the complainants in this new wave of asbestos
litigation, they should wake up and smell the lawyers at work here. But
they won’t, because they’re looking for a score themselves. Unwittingly,
they have become pawns in the lawyers’ big asbestos chess game, a needed
but barely heeded inventory that allows the lawyers to jack up the ante on
future payoffs.
Millions of claimants and billions of dollars in attorneys fees, the best
goes on and on. Asbestos “liability” has become a big umbrella, one which
lawyers are counting on to cover any deep pocket company they can get
their greedy mitts on. Second verse, same as the first.
Sooner or later
(hopefully sooner for the sake of this country’s financial welfare), our
government and we the taxpayers will realize that these asbestos lawsuits
are about one thing and one thing only -- making filthy rich lawyers even
more filthy rich. Until that happens, you and me and every one else will
keep padding the pockets of lawyers all over America.
As always, we wish you a lawyer free day!
Hey, if you’ve got a goofy lawsuit you’d like to pass on to us, simply
click
Stupid Lawsuits and Other Funny Stuff and we’ll add yours to
our ever growing list of stupid lawsuits.
And while you’re at in, why not take a few moments and check out our
growing collection of
Funny Lawyer
Quotes, Jokes and Cartoons?
If you haven’t read our highly acclaimed book,
Wake Up and Smell the Lawyers, you’re missing out on
a load of information about America’s legal system – and a load of laughs
as well. You can read excerpts taken from the book by clicking
book
chapter summaries here.
You can sign up for our FREE newsletter by clicking subscribe in the box
on the left of the page. Please tell your friends, relatives and business
associates about our Lawyers Stink E-mail Newsletter. They can subscribe
at our web site:
http://www.power-of-attorneys.com (of course you can e-mail
this newsletter to them!).
If you would like to review past issues of our Lawyers Stink E-mail
Newsletter, simply click
view back issues
of our newsletter.
We always respect your privacy and will not share your e-mail address with
anyone. If, at any time, you decide that you don’t want to receive this
newsletter any more, simply click the unsubscribe link
within the body of your newsletter.
Thanks for reading this issue of the Lawyers Stink E-mail Newsletter and
we’ll see you next month. As always, we welcome your comments and
suggestions about our newsletter.
|
|
