Re: hello

[Clarence Darrow <fritz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>It would be nice if the civil court system were just that, civil. A
>technique used merely for resolving disputes between two honest men.
>However, it seems like you've never had the real pleasure of experiencing
>the true civility of it all.

Roland is absolutely correct.  At the risk of being redundant, let me give
a step-by-step explanation of why our civil justice system is broken:

1.  Huge, well-financed corporation gets a hard-on for someone.  Whether
it's justified or not is largely irrelevant at this stage.  Corporation
hires a lawyer to write a cease-and-desist letter.

2.  The soon-to-be defendant figures he's done nothing wrong, and more or
less politely tells the corporation to stick it.

3.  Corporation gets enraged at the impudence of this mere mortal
disobeying its orders, and decides to make life unpleasant for him.  It
tells the lawyers to sue the poor SOB.  Fifty grand in legal fees is not a
large sum for a national corporation trying to play king of the hill.

4.  The little guy discovers no lawyer wants to help him unless he's
getting paid.  He also discovers that defendants in civil suits do not have
a constitutional right to a lawyer.  The free legal aid services are not
real interested in business disputes; they want civil rights cases, cases
where poor people are getting cheated out of their life savings, stuff like
that.

5.  If the little guy has assets like equity in his home, he can choose to
hire a lawyer for a few hundred bucks an hour, and watch his life savings
disappear.  Defense lawyers don't work on contingency, since the best
outcome is that the defendant doesn't have to pay money to the big
corporation.  The defendant doesn't even know how much it's going to cost,
since every time the plaintiff's lawyers file a motion, his lawyer will
need to respond, and who knows how many motions will be filed? how much
discovery will be required? how many court appearanes?

6.  In our legal system, generally, each side pays its own legal fees.  So,
the big corporation has to pay a few extra bucks to the lawyers, while the
individual defendant is driven into the poorhouse, even if he wins.
That's fine with the big corporation; it made its point:  follow its
orders, or risk being crushed financially.  It's a warning to others, and
there is no bad outcome from its point of view.

7.  It's even better if the defendant is poor, and can't afford a lawyer at
all.  That pretty much guarantees he will lose, since he won't be able to
mount much of a legal defense against a team of high-priced lawyers.

And that, Virginia, is the reality of the American civil justice system.
The rich beat up the poor.  And it's all perfectly legal.

Sableman, et al, I know you're reading this. You are legal thugs, the
strong beating up the weak, and you're doing it for the money.  Tell me how
that differs from being an enforcer.  You're just using legal documents
instead of brass knuckles.

 How do you sleep nights?