The fucking vultures are circling already. (Are you surprised?)

[Redstone]

Today, in my spam folder, was an e-mail with this "return address:"

Oil Spill Injury Alert!

And this subject line: Oil_Spill_Lawsuit_Compensation

Those gutter-dwelling, slime-sucking spawn of the sons of of pox-ridden syphillitic chancres. Those inexplicable mutations of a dead-end branch of evolution gone horribly wrong. Those indescribably malignant, unrepentant users of perfectly good oxygen, to which they have NO right in the sharing of with decent human beings.

I cannot for the life of me concieve of ANY circumstance that would compel me to attempt to take advantage of those poor, desperate folks down around the Gulf; to be so base, SO evil, as to want to turn their agony into my own financial gain...using spam e-mail to do so because, well, for me to advertise via a legitimate channel would expose me for the fraud that I was.

What the fuck, do you suppose, is WRONG with those parasites? God Damn every single one of them.

Redstone

[Subdivisions]

1. 1st rec. n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Oh, I'm sure they've been on the case since day one.

[JuniperLea]

3. I wish there truly were a hell...

These people deserve their own suite.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. Worse still are the other scams.

There are people posing as "agents" of various groups and "training" people to clean up the coast and animals for the small price of $150. They take the money and when the people show for the class..ta-dah..NO TEACHER! I think this is one of the most cruel things to enact on residents in my area and the rest of the coast.

[JoeyT]

44. Yep.

The vultures landed quite a while ago. About a week after it became national news.
Craigslist and local papers were full of ads for them. They were getting deleted like mad on CL, local papers just kept running them.
The sub-sub-sub-sub contractors are pretty scummy/scammy too. There's a bunch that are charging an application fee and vanishing into thin air. Others are trying to pay people 8-10 an hour while being paid 15-18 for the person's labor. Some even made their hires sign away their overtime pay. (Which is a huge difference on 7/12s)

[xchrom]

5. THIS got an unrec? Nt

[Laelth]

43. Yes it did, from me. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[blondeatlast]

50. And me.

I'm a paralegal. If I were in it strictly for money, I could do much better than this.

Thanks.

[laughingliberal]

52. And me. nt

[blondeatlast]

53. Thanks. nt

[Laelth]

6. Without personal injury attorneys, injured people would get nothing.

And we work for free, usually. We don't get paid, at all, unless we win.

The attorneys working for the big corps., on the other hand, get the big big bucks and they get paid whether they win or lose.

I apologize if I misconstrued your post.

-Laelth

[MineralMan]

11. Uff da!

Let Us Sue for You

We work for you, Oh yes we do.
When we win, we'll get our pay.
You'll pay a third, and that's our word.
Along with costs and fees and our big salaries.
You'll get some, for sure, you bet.
But not not even close to what we'll get.

Call Shylock, Billpadder, and Overbiller Today!

We just want to help....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
(ourselves to what you deserve)

[Laelth]

14. If it weren't for their fear that I would sue them ...

... insurance companies would never pay out a penny.

Word to the wise (feel free not to heed it, if you choose):

If an insurance company ever, ever offers you any money, it is because they know that if you went to an attorney you would get a lot, lot more.

-Laelth

[Redstone]

18. You're absolutely correct. If you're injured (car accident or otherwise), never,

I repeat EVER, talk to the other side's insurance adjuster or attorney.

Laelth offers good advice here. No matter how much they sweet-talk you (and they're very well-trained to do so), hang up. Then call YOUR attorney and tell him or her what happened.

Redstone

[MineralMan]

20. Really? That has not been my experience at all.

When my home was struck by lightning, the insurance company paid for every bit of the damage, including all of my electrical stuff, and rewiring the entire house.

When I almost died from viral encephalitis, the insurance company paid my medical bills, just as agreed to in my insurance contract.

When a moron bashed in the fender of my car, the insurance company paid 100% of the cost of repairs.

So, you're incorrect, aren't you? They'd "never" pay out a penny, you said. They paid in all three of those cases, and without any attorneys or anything else.

You're either an attorney or work for a law firm. That's fine. But, don't say the thing that is not to try to defend the predatory practices of some attorneys and law firms. Maybe your firm is pure as the driven snow. Many law firms are. But, to pretend that there aren't law firms that prey on people who are injured in some way through a tort is simply simpleminded.

We all know that's not true.

In the case of this oil spill, legitimate losses will be paid from the fund that has been set up. You folks are jumping the gun on this one. If they aren't paid, then we can investigate other means.

[Redstone]

24. Then why your post #7 below?

Redstone

[MineralMan]

26. My insurance companies paid.

I'm quoting from a fictitious, but typical ad by one of those predatory law firms. Call us Today!

[Redstone]

27. Aha. Thank you for the clarification. So you DO know the difference

between a reputable insurance company and the spammer vultures.

You and I, we're good on this one.

Redstone

(Edited because the 'N' key on my computer is sticking.)

[MineralMan]

29. Thanks.

I was just responding to the amazing statement that insurance companies never pay a dime. That's just not correct.

[Laelth]

31. I am an attorney, yes. And I work for the injured people, not the rich insurance companies.

And perhaps my statement above was a bit hyperbolic. Your insurance company might pay you something just to keep you as a customer, but, in the grand scheme of things, they wouldn't pay anything if they didn't have to, and it's their fear that the injured party will contact an attorney that makes them pay anything at all.

Feel free to disregard these comments at your liesure and at your peril.

:dem:

-Laelth

[MineralMan]

40. Oh, I always feel free to disregard comments. Often, though,

I choose to reply to them. Choice is good.

[treestar]

45. But if they didn't

You'd be mad.

Though I don't think one should hire a lawyer who advertise by email spam, people damaged by BP's negligence may well need one. BP isn't going to just pay up.

[Smashcut]

42. I'm sure that little ditty will be useful when you're representing yourself pro se

if ever you're confronted with an insurance company that doesn't pay up immediately, or just a regular old con artist.

But that could never happen right? Since you've established that insurers ALWAYS pay and only lawyers are out to cheat people...

:eyes:

[MineralMan]

46. I'm only talking about the predatory law firms who spend more

money on advertising than their clients ever see. You don't think such law firms exist?

I have a very good lawyer, who has represented me well in every instance. He's not the one I'm talking about.

Sometimes, insurance companies pay what they should. Sometimes lawyers act ethically. In either case, that's a good thing. The inverse is also true.

[Redstone]

12. You did misconstrue it. I do know PI attorneys who are perfectly good

human beings. My point is that if you're such a scumbucket that you have to advertise via spam e-mail, whether it's for being a PI attorney or anything else, you're 100% simon-pure, copperplated GUARANTEED to be an illegitimate, worthless piece of shit whose ONLY interest is to weasel some financial gain from others who are vulnerable.

Same with advertising on TV. The PI attorneys I know don't HAVE to advertise on television...their reputation advertises their skills.

Redstonne

[Laelth]

23. Spam e-mail is irritating. I don't know anyone who likes it.

But a lot of people who have been injured don't know any attorneys, and they don't know what to do to vindicate their rights. This particular attorney was most likely targeting those people, not you.

Here in Georgia, insurance companies are allowed to call injured people the day after an injury to try to settle it. Plaintiff's attorneys aren't allowed to attempt to contact an injured person until 30 days after the injury. The insurance company gets a 30 day head-start to screw over their insured. The deck is already stacked against the injured person. Most injured people don't know their rights, and they don't know who can help them. The system is designed to insure that they settle for peanuts (because that's what the insurance companies want). Plaintiffs attorneys work for the weak, the injured, the downtrodden, the people who can't afford to hire an attorney. In the grand scheme of things, we're "the good guys."

There was a time when no attorneys were allowed to advertise at all. Your reaction is the reason. People find it offensive, and the state bar associations tried to protect the profession by prohibiting advertising. This has changed within the last 20 years because too many poor and disadvantaged people lacked access to legal services that they needed and deserved but could not afford. Most people don't know any attorneys personally, and these days, a lot of really good attorneys advertise. I don't, but many do.

I'd ask you to reconsider whether direct attorney advertising is really such a bad thing.

-Laelth

[MineralMan]

28. Yes, yes. Here in Minnesota, there's no such law.

After the minor little collision when my fender was bent up by a moron backing out of a parking place, I got the most amazing stream of very expensive brochures, DVDs, and nonsense from an enormous array of law firms and chiropractors, all insisting that I must be injured and need their help to get a big payout and an unlimited chain of "therapy."

Someone's paying for all that 4-color printing and DVD making. Guess who that is? My collision happened while my freaking car was parked and unoccupied, as I was walking out of the supermarket. Nobody was injured. The insurance company told me to take the car to the body shop of my choice. They gave me a firm quote on the repairs. The insurance company sent me a check the day after I faxed them the estimate.

But, I got all that bogus literature. The unspoken thing in all of that is that I could have an "injury" and collect a big payout. What they were selling, in an unspoken word, was fraud. And I have the entire stack of crap they mailed me to show it. I don't have the constant stream of phone calls I got, though.

[Redstone]

30. OK, let me clarify: As much as I don't care for the idea of attorneys

advertising on TV, I'll swallow that objection because television advertising is a legitimate, legal venue in which they can advertise.

In other words, it costs them real money to advertise on TV. Spam e-mail, on the other hand, costs a fraction of a cent per message; a fraction too small to even calculate.

That incalculably small cost per "message" places the perpetrator squarely in the realm of scammers, does it not?

If a PI attorney had a legitimate desire (and the real ability to) actually help people, would he or she need to resort to spamming in order to get his or her message out?

I think not.

Redstone

[Laelth]

35. It's really hard to be both an attorney and a scammer at the same time.

It's possible, but it won't last for long. The state bar associations are pretty good, and attorneys who scam people get disbarred rather quickly.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Redstone]

36. I hope they get disbarred before causing damage from their scams. (I suspect

that the people behind that e-mail spam are not indeed American attorneys at all.)

My complaint is not with the message, but the medium--which should raise an alarm to recipients, but some of those recipients may be in such dire straits that they'll grasp at any straw, legitimate or otherwise (and probably Russian in origin).

Redstone

[Hosnon]

48. +1. Advertising in the legal profession is a good thing. nt.

[Hosnon]

47. The reputation model protects the establishment. The public is greatly served by legal advertising.

Competition has many advantages.

[AnArmyVeteran]

63. I think computers should replace the corrupt judicial system.

Of course the designers of the code would have to be heavily screened and given lie detector tests to ensure they weren't writing even more corruption into the administration of the law. It would replace all of the politically biased judges and anyone could file their own cases by imputing all of the data. There is so much inequity through the judicial systems around the country. In one location you can get 1 year for an offense, and 20 years in another place. The judicial system borders on the ridiculous.

[MineralMan]

7. Call Dickhead, Bastard, and Greedporn Today!

We'd just love to help you out. Yes, we would.

[treestar]

8. Why shouldn't the victims of the oil spill file lawsuits?

Against BP and the rest of the gang?

[Redstone]

13. See #12 above.

Redstone

[Rosco T.]

9. I may have to use that 1st sentence...

.. wordsmithing at it's best :)

[Redstone]

17. Thank you. Feel free to use it as applicable.

Redstone

[Gordan Shumway]

10. Can you post the content of the email?

Thanks.

[Redstone]

15. No way in hell. Do you think I'm stupid enough to open a spam email?

Even though I use Mac OS9, which is good proof against malware, I'm NOT about to open a message like that.

Redstone

[Gordan Shumway]

16. Really? I thought you could read your spam.

Just don't click on any links inside.

[Redstone]

19. Not so. Trust me on this.

Redstone

[Gordan Shumway]

22. Good to know

I've only opened maybe a handful or two of spam in the past 10 years, I had no idea it was dangerous to just open the message. Won't be doing that again.

[Stinky The Clown]

21. My cesspool (er Spam Trap) is filled with that several times a day.

Yes.

Blood suckers.

[Redstone]

25. And the Mesothelioma bloodsuckers, yes? They make me particularly angry.

Redstone

[unblock]

32. ok THIS spam bothers you, but i've never seen you complain about penile enlargement spam

hmmmm....

:hide:

[Raineyb]

34. Those penile enlargement spams are much more offensive.

I don't even have a penis to enlarge!

Really of all the spam to complain about THIS is probably the least offensive. At least this MIGHT get to someone who needs a lawyer. (I tend to have mine go straight into the spam box never to be downloaded but that's just me.)

[Redstone]

38. Well, now THAT spam provides a truly REAL benefit, doesn't it? In fact, I can

"prove" to you that I had a "2X increase in length" and a "4X Change in Girth" JUST_FROM_TAKING_THOSE_PILLS_THAT_WERE_MADE_IN_CHINA, yes I can.

THIS_IS_THE_TRUTH_AND_IT'S_NO_HYPE, as the subject line of my spam e-mail said.

Hey, it's on the Internet, so it MUST be true, yes?

Redstone

[Swamp Rat]

33. America is circling the drain

[Mimosa]

37. Sometimes a person really needs a lawyer

We don't know what will happen in a year or two regarding the million or so people who may lose their jobs and businesses.

[Redstone]

39. See all of the above.

Redstone

[Redstone]

41. Yeah, just like we won't know about the people affected by THIS spam:

"Return address:" Accutane Attorney (Yeah, right.)

Subject: "Popular prescription accutane linked to serious injuries"

Yeah, sure. Even if the subject line happens to be true (and I suppose it could be so), are you willing to risk your identity / real name and address / financial information to some pus-bloated boil who can't find any other way to drum up "business" than to send you a blind, spam e-mail?

I'd hope not.

Redstone

[TK421]

49. Hooray for me, to hell with everyone else....sound familiar?

I shouldn't even have to guess their political affiliation

[Major Hogwash]

51. Thas jus a good ol' boy lawyer doing his job, Redstone. Trying to limit the amount of damages.

Can't blame them for trying, can ya?
Not against the law, is it?
Where does it say in the Constitution that lawyers can't chase ambulances before they are sent out of the garage?

Drill, baby, drill.

The chant that killed the South!!!
Hope those people will vote for McCain next time, huh?

[laughingliberal]

54. I understand your concern about the use of spam e-mail but I do think the OP could be construed

as an attack on PI attorneys in general which is a decidedly RW position. For that reason, I unrecced the post. "Trial lawyers" have been a big target of Republicans for many years and 'tort reform' is, as Molly Ivins said, "a nice little euphemism for 'the people lose their rights.'

[Redstone]

55. Then you didn't really READ my whole post, did you? Not trying to be

argumentative here, but if you'd indeed read the whole message, there would be no mistake about its intent, nor about its target.

Redstone

[laughingliberal]

65. Yeah, I did.

I just know the right wing and I know they will take any connection, no matter how tenuous, to bash 'trial lawyers,' and scream, 'tort reform!'

[nadinbrzezinski]

59. I happen to despise

a very small number of PI lawyers. Truly the bottom feeders, who give the rest a bad name. Yes, had the "honor" of almost getting sued by one of them. And this fine gent falls in the very small percentage that give the rest, who are doing a necessary job, more than just a bad name.

[TexasObserver]

56. Your horror is misplaced.

Do you really take offense at lawyers who file claims against wrongdoers like BP solicit clients who are injured?

What is the basis of your attack on one of the Democratic party's best support groups?

[Redstone]

58. Didn't actually READ my post, did you? Nor my followups, that's

blindingly clear.

Work your way back through the thread and actually READ the posts, then get back to me, OK?

Redstone

[TexasObserver]

60. Yes, I read them all.

You have attacked one of the key groups in the Democratic coalition.

You may not like the lowest rung of the plaintiffs bar, but they're there for a reason, and they reach poor, ignorant, out of touch people who have legit claims.

[Redstone]

61. I got $100 to bet that the author of that spam message is not legitimate...

care to take me up on that?

There is nobody, I repeat, NOBODY legitimate who has to resort to spam e-mail to promote their "service."

Redstone

[nadinbrzezinski]

57. Scum they are indeed

True story, one of my patients was sixteen... and in a scuffle down in Tijuana MEXICO where he was stabbed.

We transported, all the way to the US Trauma Center... where he went from the back of my rig to the Operating Room, no stop at the Resuscitation room. For you in the medical field you do realize just how sick this kid was.

So next morning I went to pick up the gear...

And there is dad... he sees me and says... "I am gonna sue you for practicing Medicine without a license." It was not how are you doing, thank you, or anything like that. Of course my mind went to kid, who medically crashed two blocks from the Trauma Center, might have died here.

So after a few second of dumbfounded shock, he takes out his bidness card, better for me to know who is suing me. Son was the son of a famous ambulance chaser. So I point to my ... shoulder patch and calmly point out that the jurisdiction for THAT CALL is Tijuana Mexico. And that these kinds of lawsuits are seen in a very dim light by Mexican judges, assuming he could even get a lawyer to represent him...

Suffice it to say I went INTO the ICU, not just to pick up my gear, but to WARN the staff... the HOSPITAL counsel was already there advising the staff. He looked at my patch and had a low chuckle, since he did get this thing about jurisdiction which low scum did not.

Suffice it to say this excuse of a human being, who was willing to sue his son's medical providers no longer practices law... he lost his right to practice oh a few years later, and on the way out I reminded him that I could still call CPS... I mean what was an UNDERAGE kid doing in a foreign country at three in the morning?

Oh and the kid did make it, but the Trauma center had him transferred to the hospital preferred by his insurance ASAP, and not just because of insurance in this case. And yes CPS did initiate an investigation... that I have no idea how it ended.

[Redstone]

62. Thank you for giving us that story. As a First Responder, you deserve

thanks from all of us.

Redstone

[nadinbrzezinski]

67. Realize this guy is the type that gives the profession

a bad name and he was preceded by his reputation... aka the 1-2% that should not be in the legal profession.

[Laelth]

64. Gracious. I am stunned by this reaction.

I mean, I know the right-wing defund-the-left by destroying the Plaintiff's lawyers campaign had been somewhat successful, but I had no idea how successful it had been.

Perhaps this particular attorney was scum. I have no idea, but I'd like to examine exactly what he did. He threatened a lawsuit. That's it. He threatened a lawsuit. He didn't hit anyone with a baseball bat. He didn't blow up any buildings. He didn't fire anyone from their job or cause anyone to lose their job. He didn't steal anyone's money. He just threatened a lawsuit and handed out a business card. Sounds like he didn't even file the suit he threatened to file.

And for that ... he's scum. Plus he gets CPS sicked on him and he's threatened with losing custody of his children. Did someone over-react, perhaps?

Plaintiffs' lawyers get a really bad rap in this society, and we need to remember that the injured suffer and the insurance companies win when life gets harder and harder for those who, for no pay unless they win, help vindicate the rights of the injured.

-Laelth

[nadinbrzezinski]

66. Oh he was,

he is the minority that are truly scum... I'd put the real scum at oh 1-2% of the profession. And he lost his license in five states ten years later for cause.

As to CPS, responders and medical professionals have an obligation to report child endangerment to CPS...

Letting your kid into ANOTHER country, where he gets drunk (with a very fake ID), and gets stabbed qualifies as child endangerment. Hell if we took him to the Mexican Trauma Center, guess what? The equivalent of CPS would have gotten involved too. Hell, even though I transported to a US Hospital I still had to kill THAT tree.

So CPS was informed, as LEGALLY REQUIRED to do so by the staff at the ATTENDING hospital. I am sure you are NOT aware that medical personnel have a LEGAL obligation to report child endangerment, child abuse and elder abuse, at least in the State of California. If anything the requirements have gotten a lot more stringent than they were even back then. And this is done as a matter of course, period.

[Laelth]

72. I am aware that a number of people are mandatory reporters.

I am not surprised to discover that, in the state in question, hospital staff are as well.

Generally speaking, attorneys who get disbarred in any state have serious problems--usually financial. Getting disbarred in five states means, most likely, that he was stealing from his clients. I am glad to hear that this particular attorney was forced out of the profession.

But threatening a lawsuit is what aggrieved people are supposed to do to resolve conflicts. We feel that's a lot better than threatening a person's job security or threatening them with physical violence. Without the ability to threaten legal action, people will turn to other, less civil means of resolving disputes. Our justice system is designed to prevent that.

I was just trying to suggest that threatening a lawsuit ought not serve as proof that the guy is "scum." In fact, threatening a lawsuit is what you're supposed to do because it's better than the alternative.

:dem:

-Laelth

[nadinbrzezinski]

73. Here is the problem wiht this guy

1.- His reputation preceded him.

2.- He was threatening to sue me for practicing medicine without a license, for which there was no cause. He threatened because it was an "easy pay check" since I was wearing an EMS uniform from ANOTHER country... when transporting his son. There is this thing called mutual aid, which essentially means all I did was Under my MEDICAL CONTROL advise.

This was not medical malpractice, but essentially doing something for which there was no cause.

If he did medical malpractice. ok we get it. But this was stranger than a mad hatter.

And yes, we did learn that it was seen as a quick pay check by him, which was odd to say the least.

[KamaAina]

68. 'Tis said that a La. attorney getting out of law school now

may well be working on spill-related cases for her or his entire career.

[blondeatlast]

70. Sadly, this godforesaken disaster helps my career prospects.

I'm a paralegal; I would LOVE to work torts on this.

[area51]

69. Spammers are vermin,

just like republicans.

[Initech]

71. Fuck it, I quit.

God damn pieces of fucking horse shit. :argh:

[Horse with no Name]

74. The bad ones will gather in any venue possible--not just the internet

Quite a few years ago, a friend of mine's brothers were riding the skyride at the Dallas Fair.
The ride broke.
Both brothers fell out--one died and one was seriously injured. He was taken to Parkland.
Before his parents could get to the hospital and break the news about his brother, an ambulance chasing attorney came into the ER and handed him a card to give to his parents "to help pay his brother's funeral expenses".
Tim was devastated to learn that his brother had died that way.
The attorney was disbarred.