A lawyer friend taught me that every lawsuit has a settlement value.
Yes, even one without merit. 

 He represented Cessna Aircraft in a case where a Cessna aircraft crashed during an agricultural 
spraying operation. The pilot survived the crash and did not seem to be very seriously injured. 
However, he was covered in the arsenic-based insecticide he was applying. 

 The EMT's treated him at the scene and then transported him to the hospital. When they got to the 
hospital the emergency room folks asked the EMT's if the patient had been decontaminated? 
They said, "yes," because they had cleaned his head and face at the scene. The EMT's had NOT 
decontaminated the rest of the pilot's body. Thus, the pilot remained in the hospital for several days 
with arsenic all over him. Guess what? He died.

 The initial cause of death was arsenic poisoning. However... The family apparently had some pull 
(small Texas town) and the cause of death amazingly changed to blunt force trauma to the chest.

 Cessna was sued. The plaintiff claimed that one of the shoulder harnesses failed (true) and this allowed 
the pilot to move forward during the crash and strike the control stick with his chest, resulting,
eventually, in his death.

 My friend described to me in vivid detail this obvious "slam-dunk" case which he refused to settle 
for $50,000. He confidently went to trial. The case went to the jury and they found for the plaintiff 
to the tune of $6 million.

 This would be the "poster-child" for tort reform according to some, but of course, the case was not over. 
There were appeals and Cessna never did pay the six million. The plaintiff knew that a bird in the hand was
worth more than those million birdies potentially in the bush some time in the future and eventually they 
settled for a few hundred thousand I believe. Those numbers could be off, but the basics are still true.

 My pal's moral to the story is that even the cases you "know" you will win nine out of ten times still have 
a settlement value. There is always that one time when your 9 out of 10 case goes the other way and your
client (in his case, Cessna's insurance company) gets to fork out the big bucks.
 

> The vast majority of those dubious cases were dismissed with no payout to the patient. However, 
> groundless lawsuits still accounted for 15 percent of the money paid out in settlements or verdicts.

 Sooo... That quote still rings true to me. And remember that even a case that goes for the defendant costs 
somebody money. Your insurance company has the duty to either defend any claims against you in court 
or pay up to policy limits - at THEIR discretion. That costs money.
 

>> People who are forced to write large checks generally turn over every rock.

 Remember - it costs MONEY to turn over those rocks. Would you pay 50 cents to collect a 25 cent debt? 
It doesn't make business sense. Neither does taking every case you know is frivolous to court when you still 
might lose! It doesn't make business sense to pay $50,000 in attorney's fees to win a case you could have 
settled for $25,000. 

 I think the system MOSTLY works. We should do more to punish those who deliberately abuse the system, 
but the system certainly isn't as broken as the Republicans say it is.

 Solidarity,
 Stan in Durant.
 

 Stan, there's still the question about Harvard.
If they were able to dig out solid, scientific proof that 4 in ten suits are groundless,
they must have spent tons more money than the insurance companies.

To be scientific, they probably had to look at 1,000 suits.
Even paying just $5,000 to discover the solid, scientific proof that's only 25%, 
that means Harvard spent $5,000,000 just on investigative fees.

I understand the point you're making (probably) but I'm suspicious.
If Harvard knows for sure, how can the insurance companies be so blind?

Lastly, it seems to say you and me could file ten suits and maybe settle four of them for $100,000.
I say it's not that easy.

I say the Harvard report was paid for by the insurance comapnies to help Bush sell the point
that something must be done right now because the insurance companies can't last another year
because every Tom, Dick & Harry is quick-scamming the poor, defenseless insurance companies.

My bullshit detector is barking like a Chihuahua on Cuervo.
 
 

 

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