ALMS FOR THE LAWYERS
ARMISTEAD, WILLIAM S.
ALMS FOR. THE LAWYERS by William S. Armistead ON MAY 19, 58 SENATORS voted against an amendment that would have paid trial lawyers $250 an hour, plus expenses, for all the work they've done...
...Lauch Faircloth, Republican of North Carolina, a visibly excited sen...
...so what was the problem with the $250-an-hour deal...
...Cha-ching...
...Congress could commission a Trial Lawyer's Memorial—perhaps something like the Iwo Jima Memorial, though in this case the heroes could be planting a stake in the heart of a tobacco executive...
...The 58 senators didn't think it was enough...
...THE LAWYERS by William S. Armistead ON MAY 19, 58 SENATORS voted against an amendment that would have paid trial lawyers $250 an hour, plus expenses, for all the work they've done against tobacco companies...
...So the state-based global settlement collapsed...
...They can go back to court at the state level or they can ask Congress for relief, but they took their chances on a jackpot and lost out to an even greedier, cleverer bunch—our elected officials in Washington...
...If the lawyers had been working full time, that would have meant half a million per year—or $2.5 million for each lawyer, for five years of work...
...It makes sense— unless, of course, you're in the hero camp, in which case let's press medals, carve statues, and put away all such vulgar talk of money...
...Really big heroes...
...Without the consent of all parties to the settlement— as was achieved in Florida, Texas, and Mississippi—or a victory in court, the trial lawyers have nothing coming to them...
...What a ride...
...So, if the trial lawyers are heroes, they ought to be given full honors by Congress and the president...
...The payoff for the state government was huge, about $12 billion, and the trial lawyers were set to get almost $3 billion of that...
...And then, their client, the state of Florida, passed a law (they can do that since they're the government) stripping the tobacco companies of their affirmative defenses in court, making it virtually impossible for the trial lawyers to lose...
...Aren't heroes the ones who refuse rewards, saying they acted (to save the children in this case) because they thought it was for the good of the country...
...Americans would then take time out to contemplate just how much we owe to those who sacrificed so much that our children might breathe free...
...Money only cheapens a hero's motivation and triumph...
...Viewed as mere mortals, the trial lawyers overreached, mishandled the endgame, and lost...
...True, there are some who see the trial lawyers as heroes for bringing down Big Tobacco...
...As for the tobacco companies, once they saw this brick loaded onto the scales of justice, they predictably started scrambling for a settlement...
...Let's suppose for a moment they have bravely saved our children and therefore deserve to be held up right alongside Congressional Medal of Honor winners...
...It turns out that the trial lawyers want $20 billion in taxpayer dollars, and these senators want to give it to them...
...Fair-cloth's $250...
...Now that's a good day at the office...
...The typical lawyer in America earns about $150 an hour...
...Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, took to the floor, arguing that $250 an hour was more punishment than payment...
...When this tag-team effort was repeated in other states and then brought to Washington, D.C., the take for government was over $350 billion, and the trial lawyers were set to take in at least $20 billion for themselves...
...So there we are...
...And let's, just for the sake of argument, say that they were getting nowhere fast with juries until one day they got hired (again, for a percentage of the take) by the state of Florida...
...Do we normally give money to heroes...
...Durbin wants us to think of the trial lawyers as both—^but that's not really possible...
...In other words, righteous bucks...
...If the trial lawyers aren't heroes, but only lawyers, let's be fair—even gener-ous—and pay them for their lawyering...
...When the amendment to set the fees at $250 was introduced by sen...
...William S. Armistead is a vice president of Citizens for a Sound Economy...
...Were it not for these attorneys, these tobacco companies would continue to make billions of dollars, would continue to exploit our children, would continue to be the number-one preventable cause of death in America month after month, year after year, decade after decade," the senator admonished...
...It's a pretty lucrative profession...
...Unfortunately for the trial lawyers, however, the big settlement was hijacked by politicians who wanted that money for themselves and their pet federal programs...
...They'll do well...
...Maybe Dick Durbin could declare a "Trial Lawyer's Day...
...If the trial lawyers are heroes, by all means let's treat them as such...
...According to Durbin, a mere $250 an hour would be an insult to the lawyers...
...If, however, the trial lawyers are only lawyers, let's treat them that way—as regular guys who schlepped to court against tobacco companies on behalf of individual clients who hired them on contingency...
...Why not split the difference and go with Sen...
...The real hot-shots (like the president's lawyers) get $400 an hour...
...But others see them simply as lawyers out to make a buck, ones who might just as soon have worked for Big Tobacco, so long as they could have cashed their $20 billion ticket at the end of the day...
Vol. 3 • June 1998 • No. 37
