America's Most Dangerous Criminals

How would we define our most dangerous criminals? Obviously they would be the ones who do the most destruction—like murder, terrorism, arson, kidnapping, chld molestation, piracy, etc. For such actions, we have strong laws and heavy penalties for people who commit them.

Of these, who would be the most dangerous? Picking through the list and others not listed, the “most” might not be obvious. But we can use one definition to sort them out.

Believe it or not, we have loopholes where certain types of theft and extortion are technically legal. A good example is a majority group of legislators who vote for a tax increase without the people’s consent. Similar thefts have happened numerous times over the past decades across the nation—federal, state, and local. Most of the time, especially with various taxes and punative mandates and regulations, the people had no choice but to suck it up. Their only recourse was to vote out the culprits, an action that takes up to four years. The people can’t prosecute them and throw them into jail. And only on the rarest of occasions, do the criminal acts ever get reversed.

When we sum up the costs of these crimes (and yes, they were, and still are, real crimes) the total is massive—taxes, bureaucracy, regulations, mandates, lost wages, lost revenue, needless trauma, and unemployment. Since the year 1933 (remember FDR—gold heist, huge windfall, reckless spending, massive unconstitutional mandates, Pearl Harbor setup, and huge tax increases to finance WWII), our nation suffered at least billions, if not trillions of today’s dollars in thefts from the people.

However, there is another type of “legal” criminal that makes the above seem like nickel and dime petit larcenists—PREDATORY TORT LAWYERS. They structure their careers by seeking out greedy “clients” (often by chasing ambulances) who have suffered usually minor or even fabricated injuries and offer them free consultations if they can represent them in court. When a lawyer “wins,” he gets about a third of the claim, which is often many thousands of dollars. After a few years and multiple cases, a tort lawyer often becomes a millionaire. It is one of the most lucritive rackets one can imagine.

In the U. S. alone, tens of thousands of lawsuits are filed every day. “Litigation is such an accepted part of the culture that a lawsuit is often the first thing people think of when they have a dispute.”

We can find these pirates everywhere—billboards, TV commercials, and huge phone book and newspaper ads. Considering that the ads alone cost fortunes, there can be no doubt that the loot collected must be almost beyond comprehension. A single theft of this magnitude would normally lead to at least several years in prison plus serious restitution. But instead, our current laws have literally given these thugs CARTE BLANCHE to commit their devastations again and again, HUNDREDS OF TIMES, with NO penalties or retribution. These are the ultimate repeat offenders. Over the last several decades, losses have probably added up to TRILLIONS of current dollars. We don’t really know. Although they boast about their huge settlements, they carefully cover up the massive losses suffered by the hapless defendants.

How did we end up in this litigation quagmire? Look at our Congress, Senate, state legislatures, county commissions, and city councils. Huge majorities in nearly all of them are lawyers. They are the ones who make our laws. They have structured them to give themselves special privilages that allow them to plunder the American people.

Some states have limits on how much a plaintiff can receive in a lawsuit. In one of these, a defendant at least sometimes has a fair chance of escaping a catastrophic judgement. Unfortunately, Alabama does not even have this little safeguard. A defendant from a minor incident can have his life destroyed.

When we add them all up, how much misery have these shysters collectively wrought? How many people have lost most of theit property? How many homesteads have been devastated? How many families have been broken up? How many people have become so destitute, that they actually commited suicide? Although not legally defined as such, abusive lawsuits can be LEGALIZED MASS MURDER.

If you ever wonder why liability insurance is so crazy expensive, that’s it. It’s not the insurance companies that rake in the big bucks; it’s the TORT LAWYERS. In fact, the insurance companies take considerable risks, and can sometimes become bankrupt from a single outrageous or even fraudulent claim.

Why are tort lawyers so dangerous? ANYBODY can become a victim. Anybody can be charged with a minor incident any time and anywhere. A greedy ambulance chaser can rule an insane amount of expenses for whatever exaggerated or even imagined injuries “suffered” by his client. A crooked judge can back it up with a “deal” with the lawyer. The right to a jury trial is sometimes denied, and even with one, a jury can be prodded or deceived into granting an unreasonable claim. An innocent defendant can lose everything he has and become destitute.

Many wealthy Americans have been obligated to invest in expensive offshore trusts to protect their property (Nevis, Cook Islands, etc.). Setting one up costs $20,000 up to $50,000, and annual maintenance fees cost $5,000 to $10,000 or more. Middle and lower income people cannot afford them.

The US Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform stated:

“Plaintiffs’ lawyers also employ various tactics in the courtroom designed to manipulate juror behavior and inflate damages. One such tactic is the “reptile theory,” which aims to instill a sense of danger in jurors’ minds, diverting their attention from the actual evidence. This approach makes jurors feel like they need to “send a message” to protect their community, leading to inflated verdicts. Another tactic is jury anchoring, where lawyers suggest a specific, exorbitant amount for damages or apply a method for calculating damages that leads to a nuclear verdict. These tactics, combined with persistent lawsuit advertising, mislead the public into believing that multi-million-dollar verdicts are normal, contributing to the increasing frequency and amount of nuclear verdicts.”

According to Sollertis:

“It wasn’t always like this. Believe it or not, at one point in history, lawsuits were discouraged and only considered as a last resort. Being an attorney was considered a gentleman’s profession. Attorneys were expected to counsel wisdom and restraint, rather than encouraging no-holds-barred litigation. Clearly, that is no longer the case.”

Over the years, numerous lawyers have lost their ethics and gravitated into the massive legal loophole that has allowed them to plunder innocent people without any limits whatsoever.

Again from Sollertis:

“Several facets of our legal system have contributed to this unfortunate situation.

Attorney advertising

Until relatively recently, attorneys were not allowed to advertise their services. But in 1977, in Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, the U.S. Supreme Court held that attorneys had a constitutional right to advertise. It was considered “commercial speech” and therefore protected under the First Amendment.

It’s difficult to imagine a world without attorney advertising now. You can’t walk down the street without seeing a billboard or a bus stop bench offering to help you with your legal needs. As a consequence of this, lawyers have become both more competitive and more aggressive at chasing that big case.

Contingency fees

A contingency fee is one where the attorney is paid a percentage of a court award (rather than an up front fee or hourly billing). The fee typically ranges anywhere from 25% to over 50%. Contingency fees have become the standard in personal injury cases. With awards in big cases reaching into the millions (and sometimes even billions!), plaintiffs’ attorneys stand to make a huge windfall with the right case.

An attorney with this much to gain if they win the case (and nothing if they lose) has a huge incentive to aggressively pursue profitable cases against vulnerable defendants.

No “loser pays” rule

Many other countries follow the English Rule for attorneys’ fees, where the losing party pays the other side’s legal fees. Under the American Rule, absent a contract or statute to the contrary, each party pays their own legal fees.

What this does, in effect, is provide a system where a plaintiff can bring a lawsuit with no risk to himself. If his attorney takes the case on contingency, and he does not have to pay the other side’s legal fees if he loses, he can sue someone without paying anything out of his own pocket. The defendant, on the other hand, risking tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees regardless of the outcome, is very often forced to settle, even if the case has no merit.

Fighting back

Predatory attorneys have encouraged the culture of litigation and Americans have embraced it. It’s unlikely that this culture is going to change any time soon. The best way to fight back is to adapt to this environment by being proactive with your wealth.

Predatory attorneys go after easy targets, those with “deep pockets” and vulnerabilities they can exploit. The right asset protection plan puts up walls of legal protection around your assets, changing the landscape altogether. Potential litigants no longer see an open treasure chest ripe for the plucking. Instead, they see an imposing fortress whose defenses they are unlikely to penetrate.”

Of all criminals, tort lawyers appear to be the greediest thugs on planet Earth. They employ all kinds of strategies to exploit the legal system and extort all of the money they can grab. Besides abusing innocent people, they also clog up our courts, drive up costs, and create uncertainty. Fairness goes straight out of the window.

Lawsuit abuses also raise the overall costs of goods and services. Businesses are forced to pass on litigation costs to consumers, undermining the economy, and even the fairness and predictability of the legal system itself.

When are we going to protect people from these racketeers? Who is going to bat for the little guys in this lopsided war and defend them? Who is going to put a STOP to these injustices?

WE MUST ENACT AND ENFORCE STRICT LAWS NATIONWIDE TO PROTECT EVERYBODY FROM ABUSIVE LAWSUITS.

SOURCES

1. US Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, What is Lawsuit Abuse?

https://instituteforlegalreform.com/blog/what-is-lawsuit-abuse/

2. Sollertis, Predatory Litigation: A threat against your wealth.

https://sollertis.com/asset-protection/predatory-litigation-a-threat-against-your-wealth/

THE VIEWS OF SUBMITTED EDITORIALS MAY NOT BE THE EXPRESS VIEWS OF THE ALABAMA GAZETTE.