Jury tacks $8 million in punative damages in funeral case

[madinmaryland]

Source: WBAL-TV Channel 11

This in addition to the 2.9million awarded.

No link yet.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Good. Bankrupt those a-holes.

[downindixie]

13. 2.66 million and I get the rest! anytime!

Sounds like a good deal to me!

[MethuenProgressive]

2. That'll put $ 2.666 million in the trial lawyer's pockets.

1/3 of 8M. Trial lawyers, our modern day vampires.


flipflopped the a and i

[madinmaryland]

3. In this case, if it bankrupts those assholes so they cannot afford to travel,

then it's worth it.

[MuseRider]

9. I agree

but this means they will be here all the time now. God I hate these people.

Gonna see them tonight as I walk in to my symphony rehearsal, they never miss the chance to call musicians (or anyone else for that matter) names.

[mike_c]

4. are those, like, hiking lawyers...?

I'll bet they wear cool footwear! :rofl:

on edit: corrected SPELLING! :rofl:

[MethuenProgressive]

6. My other boards are hiking ones!

And I do the opposite over there <g>

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Do you really think the plaintiff is going to collect a nickel of this judgment?

The lawyers don't get paid anything until the judgment is collected. And I'd be willing to bet that won't happen. Meantime, the lawyers have been fronting all of the litigation costs, which they will likely never get back. You might not like the contingent fee arrangement, but for most people it's the only way they can proceed with a lawsuit -- otherwise they'd have to pay all costs and the lawyer's hourly rate -- win or lose. The lawyer takes a huge gamble when accepting a case like this, and a lot of times, even if they win the case, they can't collect because the defendant files bankruptcy or something, and they are just as much out of luck as the plaintiff.

[kestrel91316]

8. The lawyers don't mind the free advertising value of a big case like this.

Heck, they probably took the case because they knew it was the right thing to do, and to hell with the money.

[Faygo Kid]

11. Trial lawyers who vindicate the powerless against the powerful - Vampires?

That's hardly a progressive position.

I trust if you or a member of your family are ever a victim of medical malpractice or employment discrimination, you will steer clear of trial lawyers and just take it on the chin. Enjoy.

[MethuenProgressive]

12. Trail lawyers who take 1/3 of the victim's money are "heros" to you?

You need to know some real heros.

[depakid]

14. I hope you and your family never need an attorney

or that if you do, you find out about how much retainers cost.

Might be a good lesson in the civil justice system.

[MethuenProgressive]

17. The ones I've hired will do anything, absolutely *anything*, for a fee.

I made sure to wash my hands after each meeting.

[depakid]

19. Sounds to me like you didn't get the result you wanted

and are bearing a grudge.

[MethuenProgressive]

20. I pay more, so I always win. That's the American way.

Lawyers. You get what you pay for.

[Tesha]

38. You'e hiring the wrong attorneys.

The ones I hang out with tend to be pretty clear on
their ethics and act on those ethics.

Tesha

[MethuenProgressive]

40. I hire winners. "Ethics"? Lawyers have the ethics you pay them to have.

I hired the same lawyer twice, once arguing one side of an issue, the next time arguing the other position, and I won both times. With lawyers, you get ethics you pay for.

[Tesha]

42. You apparently buy your ethics -- others just "have" ethics.

In this series of posts, you've confirmed much that
I've suspected about you for since I first encountered
you.

Tesha

[MethuenProgressive]

45. Right, and lawyers "have" the ethics you pay them to have.

At least prostitutes can be reformed.

[hedgehog]

44. A lawyer is required to argue for the client. Arguing for a guilty client

is a tough thing to do. The basis (I think) is the notion that the lawyer ultimately represents a system of checks and balances. Everyone gets a professional to put forward the best possible argument and it's up to the judge or jury to decide. In practice, some lawyers can present a better argument than others on any given day. In the long run, the system works. When the jury acquitted OJ, it may have released one guilty man. On the other hand, that jury reinforced the laws that protect every one of us from fabricated or tainted evidence.

[Tesha]

46. Lawyers, though, are not allowed to lie.

If a lawyer knows that a client committed the
crime, they can certainly raise an effective
defense, attempting to impeach witnesses and
the like, but they can be disbarred if they
lie in court and say "my client did not commit
this crime". There are ethical standards that
even lawyers can only cross at their peril.

As I said, MethuenProgressive, has confirmed for
me that he is exactly the sort of person I suspected
he was.

Tesha

[1932]

32. The plaintiffs don't pay a penny of taxes on those verdicts. I'm sure they're happier paying 33%

to their lawyer (who worked hard to get them than money) then if they had to pay 38% to the Federal Gov't and another 5-10% to the state government.

[KAZ]

16. They probably took it with no guarantee of anything.

You take that away, and all law suits stop. Unless you're rich, and can afford the retainer.

[MethuenProgressive]

18. But they wouldn't "take it" unless they thought they'd get a fee.

There should be a set limit on how much lawyers should get, but 1/3 of what ever they can convince a jury to award? That's criminal.

[KAZ]

I'm not grokking you. You want someone to risk their..

.. entire practice for, um, what?

[MethuenProgressive]

26. "for what"? A reasonable, non predatory, fee.

Cap the fees lawyers get. Let the victims keep more of the award.

[BadgerLaw2010]

30. If the jury award is small, or they lose, plaintiff's lawyers can lose enormous amounts of money.

Litigation is not cheap.

Firms minimize exposure to small payoff or loser cases out of sheer survival. You can't get away with spending $200K litigating a case and only netting $45K from it for very long.

[Faygo Kid]

21. Please don't hire a trial lawyer. Please go one-on-one with Donald Trump. His resources vs. yours.

I remember in about 1990 when Lee Iacocca made a big speech about how we have to stop all these lawsuits, "even if we have to give up some of our rights to do it."

Tell me, Methuen"Progressive," whose rights was he talking about? The Chrysler Corporation giving up its rights? Multi-millionaire Lee Iacocca giving up his rights? (And he was going through a LEGENDARY divorce at the time, tying up Michigan's courts like no other.)

No, he was talking about your rights, and mine. You never hear the critics of trial lawyers offering to give up THEIR rights. It's always somebody ELSE'S rights that they are eager to discard. And rights once discarded are not easily retrieved. Don't dare discard mine.

[MethuenProgressive]

22. Trump would win. He has more money to pay lawyers. That's the American way.

All lawyers should be on the public payroll at minimum wage.
What joy that would be!

[Faygo Kid]

23. Yeah, who needs lawyers like John Adams and Darrow?

What is your problem? Why don't you come clean here? Do you prefer George Bush's wet dream about being a dictator to the rule of law? Time to explain this insanity.

Yes, I am a lawyer, but I don't practice law. That's my confession. What about yours? North Korea doesn't have a legal system. Perhaps you would enjoy it there.

[MethuenProgressive]

25. Predatory lawters should be jailed, not rewarded.

You celebrate what I condemn. So sue me.

[Faygo Kid]

27. And they should be jailed without due process, no doubt.

Because that would otherwise mean they would be entitled to a lawyer.

Nice "progressive" part of your name there. What a joke.

[MethuenProgressive]

28. I want the legal system fair to all, not just the wealthy - that's Progressive.

You want predatory lawyers to become obscenely wealthy from the sufferings of victims.
That's not just un-American, that's anti-American.

[Faygo Kid]

31. Trial lawyers provide a key to the court house for those who are not wealthy.

I am finished with you; you do not respond to any of my inquiries.

Goodbye.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

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[izquierdista]

36. Best idea ever!

:bounce:

[BadgerLaw2010]

29. How else do you propose people sue? Hourly billing is expensive and plaintiffs are generally poor.

Most private citizens in the United States are judgment proof, let alone unable to pay as they go for litigation.

Litigation is supremely billable hours intensive relative to other forms of lawyering. Even at an hourly rate of $100 (ha!) and ignoring all other costs, a single deposition would cost into the thousands to take and review. And you aren't just taking one deposition even in the most simple cases.

Once again, this is ignoring all litigation costs and overhead. Those exist.

Suing the WBC loonies probably didn't cost that much, but if you wind up suing a major corporation or an insurance company that wants to fight, look the hell out.

Paying by the hour simply isn't viable if the matter is in any way contentious or worth suing over. Paying by agreed-upon fee i.e. contract isn't great either, since you pay, win or lose, you almost certainly can't pay the bill if you lose because most people do not have that type of liquid money, and it's almost impossible to sue (or refuse to pay) a lawyer for simply losing a case. They usually need to fuck up royally.

This isn't medical malpractice. The other side gets to try to win. The fact that the other side won doesn't necessarily mean that your guy did something wrong.

And lawyers generally do not work for free. Law school costs big money, and the smaller firms and solo general practice guys who represent most plaintiffs have pretty significant upkeep bills as well.

[Bandit]

43. How much would they have received without those lawyers?

In a country that believes in the concept of Law I would think lawyers would be considered valuable. I sure appreciate them being there...

[bluestateguy]

7. I call on the ACLU to sit this case out and let the jury's verdict stand

nt

[madinmaryland]

10. It will be interesting to see how/if the ACLU does weigh in on this case. nt

[KAZ]

15. Why? I doubt they'll get involved in a civil case. Just curious. n/t

[madinmaryland]

41. I would assume they could argue free speech?

[Az]

33. Updated story $11 Million

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071031/ap_on_re_us/funeral_protests

Its more than the entire Westboro clan is worth. It should demolish them for some time.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Az]

35. What in the world are you smoking?

Gore? Soros? Involved with Westboro? And you have 12 posts to your name. Not going to last long here.

You do know that they picketed Gore's father's funeral right? Not a lot of love there between them.

If you are angling at the fact that Phelps used to be a dem and was active in politics that was a long time ago. Long before he started his insane campaign. Once he started going off about homosexuals everyone distanced themselves from him and his nutty claims.

[Vinca]

37. Somebody hasn't had their medication yet today. nt

[Ganja Ninja]

39. If it weren't for the picketing of soldiers funerals the right wing

would have no problem with Phelps and the WBC soiling their big tent.