Shouldnt the "victims" receive the award?

[drcoastline]

Lower Merion School District (Suburb of Phila.) settled a law suit yesterday for $610,000.00. The suit stemmed from a suit brought by two students alleging the school district spied on them by remotely activating the web cams on their lap top computers.

The settlement will be distributed as follows.

Student 1. $175,000.00
Student 2. $10,000.00

Lawyer $475,000.00. The case ran roughly eight months, that equates to just shy of $15,000.00 per week.

Makes you wonder was the case about protecting the students or just another attorney filling his pockets? It would be interesting to know if this case was taken on a contingency?

[GH85Carrera]

That is why we almost everyone hates lawyers. The case was never about the victims, it was about getting money in the lawyers pockets.

[Scuba Steve]

Completely disgusting.

[M.D. Holloway]

But lawyers spend money on houses and cars and food and vacations - all that money goes to pay lower wage workers and keep the wheels of progress moving right?

[vwbobd]

Originally Posted by drcoastline

Lower Merion School District (Suburb of Phila.) settled a law suit yesterday for $610,000.00. The suit stemmed from a suit brought by two students alleging the school district spied on them by remotely activating the web cams on their lap top computers.

The settlement will be distributed as follows.

Student 1. $175,000.00
Student 2. $10,000.00

Lawyer $475,000.00. The case ran roughly eight months, that equates to just shy of $15,000.00 per week.

Makes you wonder was the case about protecting the students or just another attorney filling his pockets? It would be interesting to know if this case was taken on a contingency?

Guess this shows why the students are ..well... students

[cairns]

But lawyers spend money on houses and cars and food and vacations - all that money goes to pay lower wage workers and keep the wheels of progress moving right?

They also spend a LOT of money electing Democrats- who keep the laws in place allowing this to happen.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by cairns

They also spend a LOT of money electing Democrats- who keep the laws in place allowing this to happen.

Not to forget, about 80% of the politicians are lawyers.... guess who makes the laws that they then use?

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Not to forget, about 80% of the politicians are lawyers.... guess who makes the laws that they then use?

That is 99.9% of the problem.

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally Posted by cairns

They also spend a LOT of money electing Democrats- who keep the laws in place allowing this to happen.

I mastered the school of philosophy taught by the infamous Greek philosopher Facetious. I spent two years of my life on the North Coast Greek Isle of Hyperbole. I tell you man, there are 50 million reasons it's a great place to visit. However, it's neighboring Island of Catharsis is enjoyed nearly as much. It's inhabitants live in a culture of political discussions. People vacation there, beat the heck out of one of the politicos and leave feeling better about the world.

[Neilk]

Well the lawyers have to bill for the 100s of hours they spent on TV and print interviews. I mean that is were the best legal work gets done. Do you think they were going to do that for free?

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by cairns

They also spend a LOT of money electing Democrats- who keep the laws in place allowing this to happen.

[citation needed]

[sammyg2]

Lesse, some total moron who works for the government does something incredibly stupid and possibly perverse, and gets in trouble. A little.

The gubmint loses a lawsuit and has to give a great deal of taxpayer's money to a lawyer. And some to a couple of kids.

Seems to me the only victims here are the taxpayers.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by widebody911

[citation needed]

A 10 second google search provided this, from the very first hit:



Industry Influence | Follow The Money

Google is a wunderful thing.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

A 10 second google search provided this, from the very first hit:



Industry Influence | Follow The Money

Google is a wunderful thing.

Your graph doesn't address the point who keep the laws in place allowing this to happen

[cairns]

Sorry didn't mean to make this a political thread but the Democrats are owned by the trial lawyers.

Here's another quick citation- note #7.

Top Overall Donors | OpenSecrets

[Rick Lee]

I really don't feel sorry for anyone here. The kids' parents should have known upfront how much the lawyer was going to charge. Isn't a contingency fee usually 30-40%? If these guys charged more, I'm sure it was disclosed upfront. The parents could have found someone else.

[cairns]

I really don't feel sorry for anyone here. The kids' parents should have known upfront how much the lawyer was going to charge. Isn't a contingency fee usually 30-40%? If these guys charged more, I'm sure it was disclosed upfront. The parents could have found someone else.

Agreed- that is the usual contingency. But in this case the lawyers took almost 72%. I'm not sure why the parents would have agreed to that but they apparently did.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by cairns

I'm not sure why the parents would have agreed to that but they apparently did.

Life is hard on stupid people. BTW, I have a company Dell laptop with one of those built-in webcams. I put a piece of tape over it as soon as it arrived. I would think kids today would know about this stuff before I would.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Do you cover the microphone too?

How about on your cell phone?

Yes, those can all be hacked similarly.

FWIW, why do you think there are so many "class-action" lawsuits? Who makes the money on those, hmmmmm?

I was recently a "class member" for a suit against one of my insurance companies for some shenanigans they were pulling on policyholders. Megabucks payout - something like $180M. The lawyers took more than half (IIRC it was $100M) and "equitable distribution" to class memebers. I got 20 bucks out of it.

If this career doesn't work out, I'm going back to school for a law degree. No joke. There's gold in them thar hills.

[Hugh R]

Don't lawyers go for 30% to 40% plus their costs? (meaning hourly fees).