Lawyers’ Windfall Act of 2001

Hendersonville Times-News (Hendersonville, NC) ^ | November 2, 2001 | John Fogle (a.k.a. Freeper "Aegedius")

[Constitution Day]

Attention North Carolina Freepers!

We have a columnist, Aegedius, in our ranks.
Aegedius has given me permission to identify this column with his screen name, and I have his blessings to post the column.
Although the column is dated 11/02/2001, it was just posted on the web yesterday.

Stay tuned for more columns from "one of our own"!

FRegards,
CD

[Constitution Day]

Nice job, John. I'm looking forward to your next one!

CD

[Constitution Day]

Please Freepmail me if:

1) You want to be added to my North Carolina ping-list.
2) You no longer want to be included in this North Carolina ping-list.

FRegards,
Constitution Day

Old North State bump-list:
Articles relating to North Carolina, NC politics and NC people.
To add to this list, type *Old_North_State in the "To:" field.
To view articles on this list, click the link above.

Free Republic Bump List Register

[Constitution Day]

*

[Constitution Day]

*

[Constitution Day]

*

[callisto]

Excellent article!!! First-rate research and a defining style that is fluid to read. I look forward to reading more.

[2ndMostConservativeBrdMember]

Very nice!

Yes, lawyer Edwards could be expected to help himself and his pals make more money at the expense of victims.

You know what they call a bus load of lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

.

.

.

A good start.

[Constitution Day]

Come now, they're not ALL bad. Just 99.7% are! 8^)

[TheOtherOne]

One of the many misleading statements made by Democrats in support of this bill is the fact that HMOs are protected against lawsuits. But, there is a legitimate reason for this protection. Consider the following scenario: A trial lawyer, after a vacation in Las Vegas, finds himself unable to meet the $4,000 payment on his yacht next month. So, he scans the obituaries, calls each bereaved family until he finds a “victim” who was a member of an HMO. Next, he gets the list of medications administered, and looks in his address book for an “expert” who has a differing opinion about the medication administered. Because medicine is an inexact science, it is relatively easy to find an honest difference of opinion. But, if you are willing to pay the witness, it is a piece of cake. The next step is to file a $100,000 lawsuit against the HMO. After considering the $50,000 in legal fees that it will take to defend the frivolous lawsuit, the HMO agrees to settle for $10,000, which, of course, nets $4,000 for the lawyer. Payment made! Time to concentrate on next month’s payment.

That was a nice tale, and one that could be spun about any type of job, the only constant is a criminal. You presumption that every lawyer would just lie and make up a case is ludicrous.

I would waste my time explaining ERISA and the problems with bringing justified cases agaist a negligent HMO, but you won't listen or care. Let's just both hope you or your family never personally encounter negligence in the medical field.

[Constitution Day]

If you had read carefully, you would have seen that Aegedius wrote this article, not me.
Any concerns or comments should be addressed to him.

Thank you.

[TheOtherOne]

I did read carefully. I followed the norm of replying the the poster of the article. I have not seen the Author on this thread or I would have replied to him. I presume he will drop by and comment if he wishes.

I hope you did not take offense, I just clicked the reply button on the botton of your posting of the article.

[Constitution Day]

Ok, no harm done.

[Aegedius]

The scenario paints a picture of what would happen if HMOs had no protection, which is that there would be an opening for unscrupulous lawyers to exploit. You can't be saying that there are no unscrupulous lawyers. Can you?

[TheOtherOne]

The scenario paints a picture of what would happen if HMOs had no protection, which is that there would be an opening for unscrupulous lawyers to exploit. You can't be saying that there are no unscrupulous lawyers. Can you?

By that logic, we should not arm police, cause there is probably an unscrupulous police officer.

The solution to your feared scenario should not be to prevent all the justified lawsuits, but rather should try to find a way to make fraudulent claims more difficult to bring. Your approach and logic hurts actual victims of HMO negligence, and by preventing just lawsuits allows HMO's to skirt responsibility for it's actions.

[Aegedius]

By that logic, we should not arm police, cause there is probably an unscrupulous police officer..

So, in your world, the percentage of police officers who would abuse their right to carry a firearm is about the same as the percentage of trial lawyers who would file a frivilous lawsuit for personal gain? I'm afraid that I have some rather unfortunate news for you regarding the rest of the world.

In this country, the target of a frivilous lawsuit can't even recover legal expenses, much less recover damages. If physicians and HMOs were allowed to sue a lawyer, and his firm, for punitive damages, then some degree of equity could be reached. Not before.

[headsonpikes]

RE: Lawyers' Windfall Act of 2001

I suppose this is a supplement to the Lawyers' Income Maintainance Act of 2000, the Lawyers' Early Retirement Planning Act of 1999, the Lawyers' Court Monopoly Act of 1998, the Lawyers' Contingenxy Preservation Act of 1997, et seq.

I think you're getting my drift. ;^)

[headsonpikes]

I guess 'x' marks the spot where we sign on the line.(sheepish grin)

[TC Rider]

Excellant article.

If we could only implant a spine into some of our Pub senators, they could remind Johnny Boy of some of these facts, the next time he talks about how the Pubs are in the back pocket of the insurance companies.