This article is a good explanation why the joke about a thousand lawyers at the bottom of the ocean is funny to everyone.
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Ambulance chasing bottom feeders...bigger pain than telemarketers.
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Something wrong with sleaze heads selling anything and everything to make a buck? I think not. We live in the United Staes of American and there is nothing that is not for sale, including and especially tragedy, health care, schools, our retirement, prisons, our legislators, Congress, and whatever else can make a profit. If there is a way to make a buck, you are in the right place and should get on it.
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“Federal law insulates gun makers...” from any legal liability. Why is that? Gun makers must be made to face the legal liability of their blood-stained profits. Obviously, that won’t work with the endless wars all over the world, for which we are the main supplier of weapons. At least let’s make it work for mass shootings. The dead victims (and the wounded) certainly face consequences, why not the gun makers.
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"Why is that?" For the same reason all manufacturers are insulated when their product are misused...
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Sounds like a bunch of sleazeballs who want to make money off others' misery. I think the beneficiaries of this scam will be the lawyers who take 40 percent plus expenses (all those trips and meals are not "free").
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98% of lawyers give the other 2% a bad name.
Our country needs a system of "Legalcare" like Medicare that citizens can access to pay for legal advice.
Then all legal fees should be on a fee schedule just like medical fees, and contingency fees should be outlawed (like they are in all major western countries)
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Sadly you don't have to look very hard to find despicable human behavior coming in behind tragedy to exploit the victims. I agree this law firm should have the tables turned on them, but the story is also indicative of our need to blame someone or something for every bad thing that happens.
In most cases, the gun manufacturers and sellers were acting legally (not necessarily morally) and cases against them will be hard to prove even by excellent firms.
My hope, though, is that the law officers in Parkland who literally allowed kids to die because they did not do their job are brought to some sort of justice - whether it requires civil or criminal action, or both. That is the one clear cut case of brutal and avoidable negligence. If you are not willing to "protect and serve" then please do the world a favor and go into another line of work.
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It would be nice if a reputable law firm would take the survivors from all the mass shootings since the AR15 ban was lifted and do a class action suit against the GOP. It should be against every Republican in Congress who voted to let that law expire, including George W. Bush. They should be sued over loss of life, healthcare costs and PTSD. Skip going after movie theaters, school districts and the like. The ones truly guilty are the Republicans in Congress.
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You do realize that there are quite a few Democratic gun owners?
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If you personally knew both parties involved you would see through the smokey mirror. One of the parties wants more publicity then they already received. Then wants to play the victim for more headlines. Does noone find that strange? YouTube Chris Hansen. You might see clearer.
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As the tent flap gets peeled back (thank you NYTimes) we see how the aggressive forms of capitalism invade the world of law. It ain’t a pretty picture. The campers don’t even clean up after themselves.
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It is unfortunate to hear of these allegations and, yes, there are aggressive lawyers out there.
On the other side, there are lawyers who seek to protect their communities in the future and demand retribution for the victims. Lawyers who spend their days listening to the traumatic experiences of grieving families.
In many cases, their cases are the most impactful support that victims of these terrorist attacks ever receive from any type of system or community. The settlements can serve their healing in the long term. Settlements that are a fraction of what nightclub and gun industries make.
Lawyers are the ones working to combat and heal America’s gun problem. Way more than thoughts and prayers. The lawyers are listening and working long after the hashtags and media have moved on to the next thing.
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Funny, the majority of legislators in Congress and the various states are lawyers, yet they are the ones preventing real limitations on gun use and ownership.
If the prevailing contingency arrangement standard of 1/3 to 40% was reduced by law to a reasonable number, the number of ambulance chasers would gradually decline, much to the benefit of American society.
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Everyone hates lawyers - until you need one.
The ambulance chasers described in this article are not representative of the vast majority of juris doctors.
For most, it is a noble profession. One that can allow you to help people, to speak for those who would not be herds, and, if you're fortunate, to effect justice in a brutal world.
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Find a way to see The Sweet Hereafter if you want a well-done fictional representation of this phenomenon, be it on a smaller scale.
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whoops.
spell check karma ...."speak for those who would not be heard" (not "herds")
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This is why lawyers are the least trusted and most despised of the professions. I suspect just above politicians.
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Vulnerable victims were led to believe they were participating in a support group and instead were pressured to recruit other victims to be represented by the firm? That and other examples cited here may amount to labor trafficking. Would hope an energetic law clinic or zealous human rights attorney would take this on.
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Nothing wrong with assistance in seeking legal redress for wrongful death. Like others, I am wondering what should the hotel have done to scrutinize the shooter's luggage and bags? For i seriously doubt that weaponry could have been smuggled thru an airport detector system. What did the hotel do and have in the way of GUEST protection? Like a carrier, it has a higher duty of care to its guests. Funerals cost and families are bereaved if not also thrown into financial jeopardy. Contrary to the assertion framing the NYT article here, "Hundreds of families have turned to the legal system after mass shootings at Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Las Vegas and more. Often, they find themselves facing a multiyear legal crusade, with slim chances of success," it is more reflective of journalistic dicta or bias. For I dispute the chances of recovery are slim. Gunmakers are not the necessary target here and the gunman wasn't outdoors rampaging in the parking lot.
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Just say, "hang on just a sec, I have to turn off the stove." Then set the phone down and see how long they hang on waiting for you to come back.
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Name and shame. Tell the public, the judiciary, and the Bar Association what these Officers of the Court are actually doing, and ask them whether they are going to do anything about it.
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The trifecta of uniquely American ways to torture mass shooting survivors:
1) Medical bills they can’t afford to pay
2) Harassment by lawyers
3) Accused of being crisis actors by the unhinged
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These type of law firms disgust most Americans. They would sue their own mothers if they saw a buck to be made.
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Judging from the steady stream of stories of this one or that one getting a fat paycheck from a lawsuit, I'd say people nowadays are conditioned to look for a payout after experiencing any kind of mishap or indignity -- or finding themselves in the middle of a mass shooting.
I don't get the impression people needed much coaxing to file suit. The lawyers are just grabbing for their share.
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And what conditions them? Those advertisements from the ambulance chasers.
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Those trips out west and that beautiful float and all of the dinner and other stuff will pad the expenses of these lawyers and lower any payout to the victims - the whole thing is deplorable - just like selling automatic weapons to everyone.
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Doubly assaulted, first by the shooter and then by unscrupulous lawyers and other ambulance chasers. My advice to anyone affected by mass violence -- stay away from any profit-making "helpers" -- or at least don't sign anything.
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Ambulance chasers ain’t something new. I remember watching “Runaway Jury” recently, it is interesting from several perspectives.
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My wife who is a criminal defense attorney received a call from the family of one of the surviving victims of most recent Isla Vista incident. They couldn't find anyone who would represent them, it was not at all clear who had liability and had enormous medical bills for their child's rehabilitation. It was incredibly sad.
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There are so many killing incidents these days, I couldn't place Isla Vista and had to google to refresh my memory. This is very sad.
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I see absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing a legitimate legal remedy on behalf of a client. That said, lawyers soliciting clients is decidedly unethical, even if a law firm's "non-lawyer marketing specialist" is doing the dirty work.
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The lawyers clearly can be a nuisance, but the press is often worse:
The stories that emerged on the 10-year anniversary of Columbine were often uninformed and downright inaccurate. The stories were so bad that writers often propagated new myths. It’s tough to rally round the profession after writers flub stories such as Columbine. Do we really need TIME and the Los Angeles Times if they can’t get Columbine right?
The big story to emerge from the 10-year anniversary of Columbine is how, despite our ever-growing databases of knowledge, the public and plenty of journalists still manage to be so misinformed. Coverage in The New York Times was schizophrenic. Columnist Frank Rich bought into a canard when he wrote that Harris and Klebold were “ordinary American teenagers who worked at the local pizza joint, loved their parents and were popular among their classmates.” The shootings themselves should be enough to refute any notion that Harris and Klebold were ordinary, or well-liked.
The Denver Post
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Michjas, are you a lawyer?
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Old joke- they're replacing lab rats with lawyers. They'll do anything for money"
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Yuck. Benedetto Law, before you get too deep into crisis management mode, please ‘check yourself’ and do the right thing by these victims you’ve recruited so distastefully and agreed to represent. Perhaps bring in a professional trauma counselor to assist planning your next move instead of relying just on lawyers and image consultants. You do the legal profession no favors.
You may also want to look at your own vetting process? What a gross and disappointing situation. As if these individuals need more crap to deal with? It is sickening.
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Lawyers....This article reeks of exploitation...because that's what it is...but better unethical behavior than criminal. The money these cases generate will help that survivors pick up the pieces. Maybe we should just be happy about that
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And this is after we read about the women who were harassed to undergo expensive elective surgery. Maybe some lawyers will see a market for aggressively defending victims harassed by overly aggressive law firms.
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Ambulance chasing by internet.
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For lawyers, it's a game of, "Who has the insurance?" Or, who's life can I ruin to squeeze out a buck? They should all be suing the NRA and semi-automatic rifle manufacturers.
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Lawyers would be perfectly happy to sue the NRA and gun manufacturers for complicity in creating an illegal black market and selling/facilitating the sale of inherently dangerous weapons designed to kill mass numbers of human beings, among other things - and that would go to great lengths to eliminating much of the problem associated with the gun epidemic. The problem is, Congress at the behest of the NRA lobbying has rendered the NRA immune from lawsuits.
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@Prant, @GSL
What you are proposing with respect to suing the NRA is nothing more than an attack on free speech. All groups, no matter how much we may abhor them or their views, are entitled to state their opinions and try to influence government - that is a basic tenet of democracy. It would truly be scary if one could go to court to abrogate speech with which we disagree.
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