OPINION

This blogger is not a lawyer.

Thousands of people have filed lawsuits against a specific manufacturer, the maker of a popular weed killer, claiming the weed killer caused non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer. Massive amounts of monetary verdicts have been awarded, in the United States courts of law, because the manufacturer lost in the courts. The problem is that the money that the individuals, who came down with cancer, actually received is a way lower dollar amounts that is stated in the gross settlement allocation, due to these factors:

The manufacturer does not pay for the following items but the person who came down with cancer does have to pay these items (allegedly being injured again):

• Legal fees.  Roughly 40 % of the total award is taken out for legal fees.  This amount may vary.
• Medical reimbursements to the companies who treated each cancer patient.  This item is called “medical liens”.   This can vary greatly depending upon how the liens are completed.   
• Admin and case expenses.  This is usually a very small amount, less than one thousand dollars and does vary with each case.

One case we viewed, shows the gross settlement was about $125,000.  The individual received a net settlement of only about $35,000 but might get more money later after the medical liens are resolved.

The individuals who came down with cancer has to pay for most all the legal fees which can, in some cases, drain the gross settlement amount near half.  

Lawyer input:  “Unfortunately, American law does not, in tort cases, provide that attorneys fees are paid by the loser.  As a result most cases, like this, are paid by a percentage of the recovery from to be Plaintiffs.    Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do on this issue.  It’s simply the way law works in the US.”

Question:  Why not require the criminal element to pay all fees associated with case and give a larger financial award to the person(s) who were injured?

The legal corruption factor is that the legal system is failing to make the victim whole again.  The corruption factor is to take a big amount of award money fees out of the settlement and not give it to the person who was injured but to people who worked on the case.  Why not make the perpetrator pay for all court related fees?  The victim now gets way less money (for alleged corrupt reasons) and be thankful for getting any restitution.

 

 

 

 

Posted February 2, 2022