Lawsuits are BIG business

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Conicidentally....after reading Linda's post about the Hurricane Insurance( Suing State Farm and Allstate"), I received this e-mail:

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Just how big is the lawsuit industry in the United States? Here's an easy way to remember it. Not quite as big Wal-Mart, but almost. And Wal-Mart is the biggest business in the United States.

A new report by the Manhattan Institute shows that lawsuits over issues such as asbestos, mold and medical malpractice (not including tobacco settlement payments) cost a total of $205.4 billion last year. Wal-Mart's revenues were $246 billion.

Of the $205 billion paid in settlements last year, the lawyers who filed the suits took in about $40 billion, and those who defended the suits earned $28 billion. Plaintiffs received $94 billion for economic losses and other injuries. The rest went toward administrative costs.

The biggest lawsuit ever, the 1998 tobacco settlement, has made instant multi-millionaires of about 300 lawyers from 86 firms. They are projected to earn up to $30 billion total over the next 25 years from that case alone, in which four big tobacco companies agreed to pay the states $246 billion.

For those 300 lawyers, penny-anti lawsuits that bring in a few million dollars are no longer any fun. They are now looking for even bigger (or at least as big) fish to fry. Baltimore trial lawyer Peter Angelos, who claimed $1.1 billion after representing Maryland in the tobacco settlement, is suing manufacturers of cell phones for failing to warn consumers about the risks of brain tumors. Angelos also led the movement for asbestos suits, 600,000 of which have now bankrupted 67 companies and resulted in $54 billion in settlements. The final price tag is projected to reach $275 billion.

And of course you know about the legal attack on the fast food industry that is commonly believed to be the next big prize for the lawsuit industry.

We've reached the point of no return. There's nothing left for these lawyers to do but find the deepest pockets they can find and go after them with everything they've got. Once you've earned a billion dollars in a lawsuit, you are not going to be satisfied collecting checks for a few hundred thousand by filing lawsuits that bring relief to actual victims of corporate malfeasance.

It's now just a game and the stakes are getting astronomically high. Congress' answer is to try to put a cap on damage awards. The trial lawyers, who generously share their bounty with politicians seeking re-election, argue against the limits. Carlton Carl, spokesman for the Association of Trial Lawyers in America, says, "At the end of the day, that sort of legislation takes away the legal rights and says the sponsors don't trust the juries - the American people - to decide on cases."

If Mr. Carl wants Congress to trust the juries, he should welcome my solution. It gives the juries the power to hold all parties accountable for their actions. If they decide for the plaintiff, there would be no limit to the amount they can award the injured party. But, if they decide for the defendant AND they decide the suit is frivolous, the plaintiff and his attorney is liable for the defendant's attorney fees, and an equal amount to the defendant himself, to compensate him for his time and trouble.