I am not a lawyer, but I’ve got a good idea for a lawsuit, which should net me megabucks! It is on the lines of the tobacco lawsuits…but needless to say, I can’t go into detail.
My problem is, I don’t have a lot of money…and a high-powered law firm will charge $400-500/hour for their services.
So, I’ve been thinking of:
-setting up a LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, with some wealthy investors. When we win the lawsuit, I pay off my partners with the proceeds.
-set up a corporation, with the express purpose of persuing the lawsuit. When the payoff comes, I pay off my shareholders with the proceeds.
These seem to be pretty legit ways to go about it…it seems I would be doing a variation on what law firms do in fact (front money to poor clients in anticipation of a big payoff); if a law firm can do this, why can’t I?
Anybody want to sign on? This could be worth BILLIONS!
So lets recap -
1: This is a brand new idea for lawsuit against a (presumably) large industry or organization with lots of money and legal talent to defend itself.
2: This idea is so diabolical and original that no one else (or group) has considered it to date before you.
3: The villany of the defendant(s) to be is so clear and your chances of success are so promising you will not trust the idea to a lawyer’s confidence and willingness to work on a contingency basis, but would rather fund a lawsuit via investors so that you can maximize your profit.
Ummmm… no thanks.
Law firms (in the U.S.) are not allowed to front money to poor clients in anticipation of a big payoff (which is not to say some unethical plaintiffs’ lawyers don’t do this); they are not even allowed to pay court costs for losing plaintiffs.
I would also suggest studying the applicable laws on: (a) standing to sue; (b) barratry; © champerty; and (d) maintenance.
Huerta88 seems to have covered it. Besides, if it is a diabolical legal scheme to get money using the courts, either lawyers are already doing it, or it won’t work.
Lots of personal-injury lawyers will work for free and take a cut of the settlement or verdict. Of course, they only take cases where they are pretty damn sure that there will be a settlement or verdict in your favor.
“Aww, they got it all wrong. It should read, ‘Works on contingency? No, money down!’ Ooops, shouldn’t have this bar association logo on here either…”
/Simpsons
Barratry and champerty, while wonderful to roll off the tongue, are pretty well dead letter in the U.S., at least in their traditional forms. But there are laws in many states that prohibit taking a financial interest in a case in which one is not a litigating party. (In fact, I think this question came up before on these Boards.)
You’d also have the tiny problem of the federal securities laws. Ever since the 1946 case of SEC v. W.J. Howey Co., the Commission has defined “security” as any undertaking involving (1) an investment of money, (2) in a common enterprise, (3) with profits to come solely from the efforts of others. That’s pretty much exactly what you’re describing here. Offer this little opportunity in interstate commerce and you could find yourself on the opposite end of a very grouchy, very smart, and very nasty Federal agency (when it wants to be).
And even if it isn’t interstate commerce, each state has its own securities laws, which usually follow the federal.
Don’t do this.
And I got a bit ahead of myself; I usally am more careful not to offer advice in this forum. So amend my “Don’t do this” to “don’t do this without asking an attorney in your jurisdication about the points I’ve raised.”
Sheesh, what that silly little parchment makes me do sometimes…
A “good idea for a lawsuit”? There is no such thing. I have represented plaintiffs in personal injury suits for a number of years, and I have never met a plaintiff who was motivated by greed who was satisfied with the result of a lawsuit. Despite what you may have seen on Ally McBeal, litigation is difficult, trying, demanding, and frustrating. If you have to go to court to seek a remedy, you have probably lost already.
If you have suffered harm at the hands of another, find an attorney and look into a remedy. Maybe you will have something, maybe you won’t. More and more often, I am turning away potential clients whose meritorious claims would have been worthwhile 10 years ago, due to the effect of various “tort reform” laws and the current jury climate.
If you are looking for a good idea for making “megabucks,” invent something and pursue a patent.
This is almost universal, but not quite. A few states (including Ohio) have relaxed the rule prohibiting the payment of costs in unsuccessful lawsuits. Outright client advances are still prohibited everywhere, as far as I am aware.
Gentlemen; I don’t understand this: If a law firm is allowed to sue a company (think “lead-based paint”) on behalf of a client who suffered injury years after the paint company stopped making the product, and the client is indigent, then hasn’t the law firm in effect “fronted” the money for the lawsuit?
My idea is this:
massachusetts has an obscure law, that says that you are not allowed to idle your cars engine for more than 5 minutes (this to reduce air pollution). Now, the state maintains tollbooths on the Mass Pike, which are so jammed up that you can wait considerably more than 5 minutes at them, so you are violating the law. I propose to sue that state on behalf of all of the victoims of lung disease! Other targets include:
-delivery vans
-taxis
-busses
Now, the second part of this: I was named a defendant in a "class action’ lawsuit (you know, the one against American Airlines, for alleged fare price-fixing?). Well, the Washington lawfirm used my name without my consent, and made $25,000,000 off me! So, are they not in fact commiting the crime of champerty? I got a measly voucher worth $75.00, good only for 6 months, and unuseable except on very limited flights! So, i want to sue this lawfirm for:
-champerty
-using my name without my consent!
ralph124c:
- I take it by “obscure law” it is unenforced – that cars idling in Massachusetts for over 5 minutes are not, as a practical matter, fined or otherwised penalized for idling. That being the case, your putative class of car-idlers has sustained no damage from their idling, at least insofar as the obscure law is concerned. No damage, no case.
You could, I suppose, try to argue on behalf of a class of plaintiffs injured by air pollution in general that idling on the turnpike is damaging them (because it increases the air pollution that is injuring them), but you’re going to run into a bunch of brick walls on that one too, starting with basic things like proximate cause and ending with things like soveriegn immunity (I take it the Pike is run by a government agency, yes?). So no go on that front, either.
- You were a plaintiff , not a defendant, in the class action suit (well, actually you were a member of the class represented by the plaintiff, and AA was the defendant). You cannot sue the law firm. The rules of establishing a class are there for precisely the reason of aggregating lawsuits from a bunch of individual plaintiffs. If you could sue them as you suggest, it would destroy the ability to bring class action lawsuits (which might not be a bad thing, but that’s a decision for the legislature). Sorry, you’re out of luck.
Oh, and I should add that in considering a lawsuit you should always consult a licenced attorney in your particular jurisdiction, and that my above post does not constitute legal advice.