Ambulance Chasers...

OK, so... I do not want this blog to be focused only on Blackwater; there is a lot more to this industry and far more to the discussion, but I found a recent event to be particularly interesting and perplexing.

As I am sure everyone knows, Blackwater is being sued by the families of the four brave souls who were brutally murdered in Fallujah. The judicial process is taking its course, as it should in a democracy. What I found interesting was a press release by the families' lawyers last week and in related stories such as in the Virginian Pilot and the News and Observer that asks for public donations to help these same lawyers continue with the case. Now, the News and Observer story quotes one of the attorneys, Dan Callahan as saying, "...we are just a small firm..." However, if you go to the law firm's website and look at the "News & Articles" section, they seem to be doing alright for themselves. One of their wins was for nearly $1 billion! In fact, most personal injury firms will take on consignment cases particularly if they are hopeful of developing a new practice (in this case, the private security industry) which seems to be the case here. So, the question is, if this has been a case on consignment, have these attorneys reached their limit of support? Did they assume that they would reach some sort of victory in the form of a settlement much sooner than now?

Callahan also claims that Blackwater is suing the families, but again, it seems that's not exactly true. As I read it, Blackwater filed a suit against the administrator of the estates (which it seems were set up solely for the lawsuit and contain no assets) for filing a suit in the first place which violates the contract signed by the four men killed in Fallujah.

There are numerous tales of personal injury attorneys' outrageous tactics to win cases. In this case, The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reported that Dan Callahan also wrote a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi asking that the Congress investigate Blackwater. Well... that seems kinda shady, doesn't it? I mean, really, should attorneys in a civil action be able to usurp the judicial process and have Congress conduct discovery for them? From what I have read, there is no protection from Congressional inquiry, but it still seems a little too conspiratorial for me.

My point? Nothing is as it seems, and these lawyers are no different. If you feel like these attorneys have the families' best interests at heart, then by all means, give until it hurts. But if you feel that perhaps these guys are just ambulance chasers and are feeding off the barbaric tragedy these families have suffered, send them a penny each and let them know that they are no better than the companies they sue.

More on the industry tomorrow...