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Plaintiff Hit With $520,153 in Fees, Costs
FindLaw ^ | 2-21-05 | Nick Sullivan

Posted on 02/21/2005 11:59:45 AM PST by OXENinFLA

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To: AppyPappy

That was my question. Lawyers usually take these cases on contingency, If they lose do they pay 1/3rd.?


21 posted on 02/21/2005 12:08:46 PM PST by sgtbono2002
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To: OXENinFLA

Egads! RADS! Who knew?


22 posted on 02/21/2005 12:09:37 PM PST by Mears ("Call me irresponsible".)
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To: OXENinFLA

Finally a judge with brains. If anyone read the NY Post the other day, here in New York they awarded a heorin addict $3.5 million because while in jail he went through withdrawals and claimed he couldn`t breathe, like all junkies do when they can`t get a fix, so the gaurds put him on oxegen and he claimed that the oxegen gave him brain damage. So the other brain damaged on the jury decided to make the junkie a millionaire. Gee, where do you think that money is going to be spent on?


23 posted on 02/21/2005 12:09:38 PM PST by Imaverygooddriver (I`m a very good driver and I approve this message.)
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To: AppyPappy
Does his lawyer have to pay 40% of the settlement?

The guy's lawyer probably said that if the plaintiff settled he would violate the representation agreement and be charged expenses and legal fees by his own lawyer.

24 posted on 02/21/2005 12:09:48 PM PST by Mike Darancette (MESOCONS FOR RICE '08)
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To: sinkspur

I'd support a loser-pays system only up to the amount of money the loser spent pressing his case. Huge financial resources do help you win a case. How unfair is it for someone to lose a case because the other guys had a bigger legal staff, and then be charged with paying for the legal staff?


25 posted on 02/21/2005 12:10:30 PM PST by dangus
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To: OXENinFLA

Why does a guy who makes 150K drive a Honda?


26 posted on 02/21/2005 12:10:31 PM PST by HIDEK6
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To: OXENinFLA
I'll bet it is a while before someone files a damage suit like this in this Judges court.

We need more judges like this one. It has been my observation as a reporter, that verdicts by most juries in civil suits are influenced by the judge. The judges vocal inflection and body language when delivering the charge has a great effect on the verdict.

27 posted on 02/21/2005 12:10:32 PM PST by Common Tator
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To: OXENinFLA
It is sad the number of "experts" he was able to line up on his behalf:

The plaintiff's expert witnesses included his treating physicians Drs. Lawrence Copeland, Paul Stewart, Aksay Sood and Syed Akbarullah, all from Las Vegas. Variale also presented testimony from physicians at the National Jewish Medical Center in Denver: Drs. Robert Bethel, Todd Kingdom and Craig Glazer. Gary Bakken, a warnings expert from Tucson, Ariz.; and Terrence Claurettie, a Las Vegas economist, also testified for the plaintiff.

I have never been on a jury that had to weed through "expert-for-hire" testimony, but I hope jurors are becoming skeptical of them.

28 posted on 02/21/2005 12:11:57 PM PST by Puddleglum (Thank God the Boston blowhard lost)
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To: sinkspur
This kinda stuff would happen ALL THE TIME if we had the British system of loser pays.

I don't have a problem with the plaintiff being forced to pay the defendant's legal expenses if their suit is deemed "grossly unreasonable" or "non-sensical".

But I am somewhat concerned about a blanket loser-pays system. Good cases do lose sometimes. And many other cases are arguably legitimate claims that could reasonably go either way in a court of law. I have a problem with making the loser automatically pay in such instances. I don't think someone should have to put their livelihood on the line if they have a reasonable case to bring.

Perhaps a comprosmise solution would be to leave it up to the jury. Have them make two rulings. One on the merit of the case. And then secondarily (if the plaintiff loses), to rule on whether the case was "grossly unreasonable" or "non-sensical". If so, then the loser pays.

29 posted on 02/21/2005 12:12:28 PM PST by BlackRazor
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To: HIDEK6

1992 Acura Vigor

30 posted on 02/21/2005 12:12:53 PM PST by OXENinFLA
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To: Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh
I think a lot of the uninformed people who cry for "tort reform" don't realize that there are already protections like this one that are built into the law to discourage unreasonable claims/demands, etc.

Well, somehow these protection haven't stopped me from being notified of my status as a class action plaintiff in a case which I have never heard of, from which I stand to gain only a token benefit, but which promises to net the crusading plaintiff's attorneys a fat multi-million dollar payday. In at least seven different case over the years, I might add.

And BTW, the so-called existing protections to which you refer are all too often left to a judge's discretion, which means that they have virtually no real deterrent effect on whether a bad case is likely to be brought in the first place (as this article demonstrates.)

31 posted on 02/21/2005 12:13:19 PM PST by Maceman (Too nuanced for a bumper sticker)
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To: Imaverygooddriver

You know, the moral of that story is if you are ever the victim of a crime, sue the criminal. Chances are they won't even contest it... get the biggest default judgment you can, and hang onto it. You never know when your criminal assailant is going to win a stupid suit like this one and have some money to take. If your purse snatcher or mugger wins a suit like this, at least you have a shot at getting some compensation for their crime against you.


32 posted on 02/21/2005 12:13:32 PM PST by GraceCoolidge
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To: HIDEK6

You'd be surprised how many rich people don't splurge on things like new cars...one of the most rapid means of depreciation you can find.


33 posted on 02/21/2005 12:14:26 PM PST by jamz
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To: Imaverygooddriver

Sorry, but he does have a case. Whether you like it or not, prisoners are supposed to be given adequate medical care. The guards took it upon themselves to "medicate" a prisoner, causing him grave harm. I would agree, however, taht the judgment seems excessive. I'd like to know how it was calculated.


34 posted on 02/21/2005 12:14:28 PM PST by dangus
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To: sgtbono2002

Trial lawyers got short arms and deep pockets


35 posted on 02/21/2005 12:16:08 PM PST by skimask
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To: HIDEK6
"Why does a guy who makes 150K drive a Honda?"

He lies?

36 posted on 02/21/2005 12:18:28 PM PST by azhenfud ("He who is always looking up seldom finds others' lost change...")
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To: OXENinFLA
A picture of the plaintiff after the decision:


37 posted on 02/21/2005 12:19:52 PM PST by Anti-MSM (The war on terror....NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!)
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To: HIDEK6

Because he can...


38 posted on 02/21/2005 12:21:18 PM PST by dakine
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To: Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh

Unfortunatly most judges are not aware of these protections either.


39 posted on 02/21/2005 12:21:58 PM PST by Sinner6
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To: HIDEK6
Why does a guy who makes 150K drive a Honda?

HONDA, We make it SIMPLE!.......

40 posted on 02/21/2005 12:28:54 PM PST by Red Badger (I call her GODZILLARY because she went to NYC and made her nest there, too.........)
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