Fw: In defense of so-called 'greedy trial lawyers'

[Guest guest]

: Houston Chronicle - In defense of so-called 'greedy trial lawyers'

: Alderman a professor at the University of Houston Law Center speaks out.

: " Lawyer bashing, more specifically trial lawyer bashing, particularly

: greedy trial lawyer bashing, is definitely in season. During the past

: few days I have heard or read something that blamed trial lawyers for

: everything from the shortage of doctors and the high cost of insurance,

: to goods that cost more than they should, the unavailability of drugs and

: other products, and the nursing home crisis.

: True, a jury may sometimes award what sounds like a lot of money. But

: every juror that does so says the same thing: " We wanted to send a

: message not to do business that way. " We trust juries to determine the

: question of life or death; we should also trust their judgment about

: punishing a business that acts wrongfully. "

: Janet Ahmad, President

: HomeOwners for Better Building

: San , TX

: http://www.hobb.org

:

:

: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/outlook/1632384

:

: Houston Chronicle

: Oct. 27, 2002,

: In defense of so-called 'greedy trial lawyers'

: By RICHARD M. ALDERMAN

:

: It's that time of year. No, I don't mean football or hunting season, or

: concerns about who will win the World Series; I am referring to

: lawyer-bashing season. That time of year before an election when a group

: of politicians and editorialists find sport, and apparent political

: success, in placing the world's ills on the back of lawyers.

: Lawyer bashing, more specifically trial lawyer bashing, particularly

: greedy trial lawyer bashing, is definitely in season. During the past few

: days I have heard or read something that blamed trial lawyers for

: everything from the shortage of doctors and the high cost of insurance,

: to goods that cost more than they should, the unavailability of drugs and

: other products, and the nursing home crisis. You have heard them, " I

: promise lower insurance rates, better medical care, more jobs and safer

: products. My opponent took money from a greedy trial lawyer. " It appears

: that almost everything, except the Astros' inability to get in the

: playoffs, seems to revolve around this one profession.

: I should point out that I am not a trial lawyer, greedy or otherwise. I

: am a law professor. I guess I can take credit for teaching those trial

: lawyers how to mess up an otherwise well-organized, safe and efficient

: world. It is obvious that if we could just get rid of the lawyers,

: Firestone and Ford would have voluntarily recalled all of their unsafe

: tires, and given generous refunds to their customers. And I know for a

: fact that if there were no trial lawyers Enron and its officers would

: gladly be giving substantially more generous severance pay and bonuses to

: the average worker, and all of the securities firms would be returning

: money they took from investors they misled. If we could just get rid of

: the lawyers we could still buy cars like the Corvair, football helmets

: that cripple kids, three-wheeled ATVs, drugs such as fen-phen,

: polybutylene pipe for our homes and use the Dalkon Shield contraceptive.

: Without those meddling trial lawyers, cigarette companies could pay their

: shareholders much larger dividends by keeping the $13 billion they gave

: the state of Texas to help pay for the costs imposed by smoking. And, of

: course, the $2.7 billion recently offered by Libya to settle lawsuits

: would have been given even without a lawsuit. Greedy trial lawyers!

: Like it or not, we need lawyers. All of us. We live in a country that

: regulates health and safety and resolves disputes through the civil

: justice system. Private trial lawyers make that system work. If your

: insurance company doesn't pay when it should, your car doesn't run as

: promised or your physician operates on the wrong leg, your recourse is to

: hire a lawyer and sue. We need lawyers, trial lawyers, sometimes even

: greedy trial lawyers. Just ask the doctors who have filed a class-action

: lawsuit against their HMOs.

: True, a jury may sometimes award what sounds like a lot of money. But

: every juror that does so says the same thing: " We wanted to send a

: message not to do business that way. " We trust juries to determine the

: question of life or death; we should also trust their judgment about

: punishing a business that acts wrongfully.

: Whether you have been defrauded by a stock broker, ripped off by a

: used-car dealer, injured as the result of a careless doctor, lost a

: parent to nursing home negligence or had medical problems because of a

: drug that didn't work as promised, trial lawyers are your only hope for

: compensation. And more importantly, lawsuits and the threat of lawsuits

: are the only way the marketplace will regulate and stop such practices.

: I concede that some lawyers are overzealous in the pursuit of a

: defendant, and some juries act out of malice or revenge instead of

: justice, but such cases are the exception not the rule. In fact, most

: outrageous trial court judgments you have read about were quietly

: reversed on appeal. The system usually works, and works well.

: The so-called abusive tactics used by lawyers, such as class actions,

: punitive damages, and damages for mental anguish and pain and suffering,

: are often necessary to make sure that companies do not find it

: economically beneficial to continue an undesirable practice, simply

: including the occasional lawsuit as a cost of doing business.

: Lawyer bashing costs us all. The consequence of focusing on lawyers

: instead of issues, and placing blame on one party to a system that we all

: need, is to deny us the meaningful debate that is necessary to elect

: competent public officials. More importantly, lawyer bashing often

: results in the deterioration of rights so many of us often need. Next

: time a politician starts criticizing trail lawyers, ask what is proposed

: as an alternative.

: Alderman is a professor and Dwight Olds Chair in Law at the University of

: Houston Law Center.