Bi-Polar Bear wrote:that is very kind BBB, but my son has a congenital birth defect that is no one's fault. Believe me, if it were someones fault I'd have sued them into the ground years ago and would probably have hired John Edwards to do it, unless I could find a bigger shark. Just like any of these whining "John Edwards is a scummy trial lawyer ass hats would do." :wink:
There is a difference, of course, between the desire of the damaged to obtain compensation, and/or revenge and the desire of a lawyer to make an awful lot of money helping them.
If one's goal is to obtain retributional compensation (which is outside the scope of common law) and personal revenge, then yes one should hire the biggest baddest shark in the water - a John Edwards for instance. If, on the other hand one is seeking fair compensation within the intent of the law, then there are a great many decent lawyers who can ably provide representation. Not every one goes for the biggest scumbag, and you know what? The biggest scumbags will not take just anyone's case. If your case doesn't present them with a good chance of big dollars, chances are excellent they will not take it. It won't matter how aggrieved you are, or how righteous your anger.
I can understand the emotional forces that drive people to seek revenge, but in my experience the people who get wrapped up in litigation as a means of revenge are most often really looking for someone to assume or share their self-blame, and allow them to sleep at night.
Notwithstanding the motivation of plaintiffs, plaintiff lawyers like Edwards are hardly the White Knights of The People. If they were they would not be so selective in the cases they take, and they would not be taking such huge fees.
They are capitalists (perhaps of the worst kind) but the market seems to bear their costs even if society suffers as a result. Let's not kid ourselves though and buy their masquerade as defenders of the little guy and the down trodden. If they were really so altruistic, as Edwards would have you believe him to be, would he have charged the sort of fees he 's charged and that enabled this
populist to live in a 20,000 foot manor in NC and spend $400 on haircuts?
(Actually I think he was charging those haircuts to his campaign so that tells you even more about him)