Comment Re:And the real crime... (Score 1) 43
I always see all this outrage about lawyers fees at Slashdot, and how the plaintiffs get just a fraction, and how this should be made illegal, etc. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the case many times that the lawyers bare the cost of the lawsuit (sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in legal and evidence investigation, staff, expert testimony, etc.) and therefore the risk, and if they lose they get nothing? I mean it's peachy and everything if they WIN and they get 10-15% and the plaintiffs the rest, but what if they lose?
I'm sure many lawyers abuse the system, but I sure wouldn't put so much of my own money on the line if the payoff isn't worth it or the risk I end up ruined is extremely high (spare me any "sacrifice for justice" bull****. YOU go be a martir with your own money). If I'm not mistaken, some lawyers HAVE ended up ruined after losing a case.
And even if they didn't end up ruined, what's wrong with these fees atracting top notch legal talent to the case and kicking some corporate butt? I'm not sure how a mandatory fee limit of about 10-15% to cover ALL expenses (say, about 60,000 dollars for this case) is going to help the plaintiff get good legal representation. Does a plaintiff really have to get 250,000 dollars to feel vindicated about some cookie tracking? I would think winning the case and hurting the company in its pocket would be 90% of the vindication...
<sarcasm>But anyway, the important thing is that the lawyers are getting too much money, which is preventing all these companies from getting away with their illegal activities-- er, I mean preventing the plaintiffs from getting their money... yeah, that's the ticket! It's not that I have a thing against lawyers or anything...</sarcasm>