PUBLIC FORUM : CAP ON LAWYERS' FEES IN TOBACCO LAWSUITS HAS ATTORNEYS FUMING.What gross hypocrisy Hypocrisy See also Pretension. Alceste judged most social behavior as hypocritical. [Fr. Lit.: Le Misanthrope] Ambrosio self-righteous abbot of the Capuchins at Madrid. [Br. Lit. on the part of Republicans and so-called conservatives when they want to use the government to cap plaintiffs' attorney fees in the tobacco cases. These same free-market capitalists don't want government regulations on anything, except when it comes to the attorneys who brought the tobacco companies to their knees. The tobacco companies spent something like $50 million on their paid-for legislators and lobbyists to defeat the national tobacco bill. What would they say if the government put a cap on how much they could spend for public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most and marketing? Caps on attorneys fees are just the first step to government regulating businesses. Let's not Let's Not is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in Boston University Graduate Journal in December 1954. It was written for no payment as a favour to the journal, and later appeared in the collection Buy Jupiter. go down that slippery slope 'slippery slope' Medical ethics An ethical continuum or 'slope,' the impact of which has been incompletely explored, and which itself raises moral questions that are even more on the ethical 'edge' than the original issue to a regulated economy. - Arnold Schwartz President Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. The decision by the Senate to drop the tobacco bill has to be lauded as a very courageous effort to stop the runaway tax-and-spend policy that this bill would have perpetuated. It was courageous because the Republicans will now be accused of supporting Big Tobacco at the expense of children. But let's look at reality. Tobacco companies offered to pay $368.5 billion to settle the 40 lawsuits brought against them by states, and as we have seen in the cases of Florida and Texas, the lawyers want their 25 percent in order to become billionaires. However, our lawmakers got greedy and wanted $516 billion, most of it coming out of the pockets of seniors and poor people, and spending it on all sorts of unrelated items. If the issue is teen smoking, as they want us to believe, we already have strict laws, not only here in California, but in all 50 states, which should be enforced. But we know teens will get what they want, one way or another, which makes it sort of ridiculous to hold the tobacco companies liable if teen tobacco use does not go down. And the more we tell teens what not to do, the more they will do it, which is why the anti-smoking propaganda on TV and on radio is not effective. Teen smoking is up. - Otto J. Mueksch North Hollywood Changing plaintiffs' lawyers' fees from a contingency fee contingency fee Law & medicine An attorney fee based on a percentage of the money recovered in a lawsuit to an hourly wage will only hurt consumers. Plaintiffs' attorneys work on a contingency fee basis - for a percentage of the amount recovered - not for an hourly fee. This allows everyone access to the courts, not just the rich who can afford hourly fees hourly fees see fees. and up-front costs. Contingency fees were especially crucial in the tobacco cases. When several states brought suit against the tobacco industry, they were able to hire plaintiffs' attorneys expert in civil litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. without having to pay steep hourly fees. And because plaintiffs' attorneys worked for contingency fees, taxpayers did not pay a single penny for years of litigation work. Taxpayers were also spared the consequences of paying for the litigation if the plaintiffs' attorneys had lost the case. In Texas alone, plaintiffs' attorneys spent more than $40 million of their own money preparing for trial. If they had lost, they would have lost the $40 million they spent on the case. By restricting the fees for plaintiffs' attorneys, it is more likely that future suits against companies that harm the public will go up in smoke. - Russell E. Nordstrom Los Angeles If tobacco is so bad, why not make it illegal to produce it? Of course we can't do that because the tobacco companies would be out of business and we wouldn't get all the money they make for the U.S. government to take from them. I can't see how we can make the tobacco companies responsible for future teen smokers when their own parents can't control what they do. Isn't anyone responsible for their own acts? We need tobacco money for smokers' ailments. How about money from alcohol companies for alcoholics? Teens also drink. The tobacco companies are making tainted taint v. taint·ed, taint·ing, taints v.tr. 1. To affect with or as if with a disease. 2. To affect with decay or putrefaction; spoil. See Synonyms at contaminate. 3. money, but the U.S. government and all the states are not too upset to use all that money they can get - only to do good, of course. This is America? What will the government protect us from next? - Margaret Ulbrand Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. Your question about attorneys fees begs the question. Plaintiffs' attorneys are consumer attorneys because they do not charge an hourly fee, which means that ordinary people can bring actions against huge corporations like the tobacco companies, asbestos manufacturers and insurance companies such as State Farm, which was caught cheating policy-holders after the earthquake. Consumer attorneys put up their own money to pay for the expenses of litigation and only get paid if they win for their client. This allows everyone access to the courts, not just the rich who can afford the hourly fees and up-front costs their own lawyers charge for defending them. For decades, consumer attorneys lost tens of millions of dollars - some of them went bankrupt - trying to hold the tobacco companies legally responsible for their actions. And when they finally succeed, the losers yell ``foul.'' Don't feel sorry for Big Tobacco. It reaped unconscionable Unusually harsh and shocking to the conscience; that which is so grossly unfair that a court will proscribe it. When a court uses the word unconscionable to describe conduct, it means that the conduct does not conform to the dictates of conscience. profits harming its own customers, and paid over $6 billion over the last 10 years for attorneys trying to get them off the hook. - John F. DeNove Los Angeles Yes, there should be a cap on the fees for attorneys representing clients who were harmed or killed by tobacco. However, in all fairness, there should also be a similar cap on the fees the cigarette makers pay to the attorneys defending them. And how about a cap on the millions of dollars in campaign contributions that our elected and well-compensated representatives are raking raking of an elephant—see back raking. in from the cigarette makers? - Tara Whitney Robins Saugus There is no limit to the fees Big Tobacco attorneys can charge, so why should there be a limit to the fees of the plaintiffs' attorneys fighting them? The plaintiffs' attorneys took these cases on a contingency fee. That means that they receive no money up front, and are only paid a percentage of what they win. Had they lost, they would have received nothing. Limiting the fees plaintiffs' lawyers receive is punishing them for a job well done. - Robert S Robert, Henry Martyn 1837-1923. American army engineer and parliamentary authority. He designed the defenses for Washington, D.C., during the Civil War and later wrote Robert's Rules of Order (1876). Noun 1. . Fink fink Slang n. 1. A contemptible person. 2. An informer. 3. A hired strikebreaker. intr.v. finked, fink·ing, finks 1. To inform against another person. Los Angeles How many times does it need to be proved to us that you can get away with murder - the children who are being targeted for nicotine addiction Noun 1. nicotine addiction - an addiction to nicotine drug addiction, white plague - an addiction to a drug (especially a narcotic drug) - if you have enough money? - Ron Presson Northridge Inasmuch as in·as·much as conj. 1. Because of the fact that; since. 2. To the extent that; insofar as. inasmuch as conj 1. since; because 2. Congress is made up mostly of legal beagles, you don't for a minute believe that they will want to cut their exorbitant fees? The tobacco industry through the years has made a considerable amount of money and is a target for lawyers to get well financially while trying to make a gullible gul·li·ble adj. Easily deceived or duped. [From gull2.] gul public believe that they, the lawyers, are acting on behalf of public health and welfare. Nobody is worth more than $500 per hour for trying to wrest wrest tr.v. wrest·ed, wrest·ing, wrests 1. To obtain by or as if by pulling with violent twisting movements: wrested the book out of his hands; wrested the islands from the settlers. a fortune from legitimate industrialists just because they have the bucks. - Freddie Steese Lancaster |
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