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Milking September 11th for Cash
By Al
Ruechel | 03-13-02
This story is going to make you sick.
You're going to think this is a TV drama. But it is real! I've
confirmed my sources name and employment records and some history to
know he is probably telling the truth. And it proves what Glenn Beck
has been saying on his show. There are people, bloodsuckers of every
shape and size, who are cashing in on September 11th. There are
lawyers who see all this grief and sorrow as the opportunity of a
lifetime. They have pounced on the victims with promises of
financial windfalls; cash bonuses for those ambulance chasers who
can round up enough victims to enter into a class action lawsuit;
taking advantage of the congenial, compassionate goodwill of
millions of Americans who feel the victims deserve some kind of help
though we don't know exactly what that means. And the American
government seems to be held hostage by the threat of lawsuits that
many economists believe could put this country into a tailspin
reminiscent of days following September 11th.
We will call him Mark. He used to
work for one of the largest law firms in the country. I won't use
the name because that firm is so big they could crush me like a bug
if they wanted. Mark was working out at a local gym and I overheard
his conversation with two of his friends, both lawyers in the
Clearwater (Florida) area. Mark is applying for a teach position at
a local college. I apologized for eavesdropping and asked if he
wouldn't mind if I told his story in my column. He told me yes, if I
didn't use his name or that of his law firm and erased the tape once
I had written the story. Here is what he told me.
Just 26 hours after the collapse of
the twin towers Mark says his firm called in all of the junior
partners in Manhattan to a special meeting. Mark says there were
about 80 people present at the gathering.
Mark: "They offered us
bonuses for whoever could find the most victims families. We'd
also get a percentage of the final settlement. It was nuts. We had
a boiler room working the phones when Giuliani asked everyone to
stop bugging the families. We had a team of 6 associates who
literally went from precinct to precinct looking for cop's
families. Another gal was checking with florists to see who was
getting flowers. We paid some law students in Boston on a per head
basis to come up with the names and addresses of the people on the
plane. We hired private investigators and computer hackers to dig
through public records and employee lists. I was told to go out to
the area were people were putting up pictures of their loved ones.
We sent another guy down to the city morgue when the bodies were
brought in. We had another gal who went to the fire companies
trying to find a list of the missing. And, of course, the
"big pitch" was we just wanted to help and
"secure" the funding these families would need to cope.
Oh, yes, and it was all free. Free Legal Representation. Only the
best for the victims. Is that cold enough for you?"
Al: "What do you mean
free?"
Mark: "Like most legal
firms we work on a contingency fee. It can range anywhere from 20
to 40 percent depending on the case. And 40 percent is a hell of a
lot of money for the world's worst disaster since Pearl Harbor.
You don't know how many times I had that drummed into my
head?"
Al: "Is that
legal?"
Mark: "Sure, there's
nothing legally wrong with it, you just have to follow certain
rules, which most of us make up along the way. And I've done that
kind of thing before to bring in business. But this was different.
It was like a carnival. There must have been thirty or forty of us
walking up and down the streets not to mention the associates who
went to the airport in Boston. It just got to me. "
Al: "How did the people
react when you talked to them? "
Mark: "Most of them
just wanted to show you their pictures. But as time wore on some
would even ask how much they could get. And then you'd hear these
guys promising, I mean promising they could get 100-million
dollars easy, maybe more. And the further away we got from
September 11th the more the victims talked about money and even
started calling us. I had one lady who said she wanted $200
million dollars from the airlines and I told her if she could just
hold out I thought that was realistic. Geeze, what a sell
out."
Mark and I talked about the
importance of legal representation in cases where products might be
defective. The threat of lawsuits is a legitimate tool for defending
the rights of individuals from harm. No one is going to argue about
suing tire manufacturers for covering up defects in tires that end
up killing people. But the fact is many lawyers only take those
kinds of cases because they know they can make a lot of money, and
make it very quickly. And when there is public sentiment in favor of
the victims the likelihood of striking it rich is enormous.
Mark: "What pushed me
over the edge; what made me re-evaluate what I was doing in New
York was the constant pressure from the senior partners to find
victims that could really sell our story. They used to tell me,
you've got to find that mom with a new baby, someone who every
American can relate to, it has to be someone who can really tell
their story, it's got to be someone who will make a jury break
down and cry. We can make millions and that means you can make
millions too. It's a great way to get a young career like yours on
the right track."
Mark stopped in mid sentence and
looked away. Then he walked over to the water cooler and took a long
drink. He turned around and slammed his fist into the wall.
Mark: "That is just so
damn wrong! You see this kind of stuff in the movies and you joke
about it. And sure, you are exposed to the process and you know
that's part of the job. But this was just crazy."
Mark went on to detail several other
meetings he had with his superiors. He said there was constant
pressure and constant cheer leading to keep the staff
"psyched" about recruiting victims. They even had a tally
board in the conference room and circles and lines connecting the
parties that could be sued. Airlines, security firms, travel agents,
government agencies, hospitals, fire departments, paramedics, the
list went on, according to Mark.
Mark: "At one time, we
were told that our firm could expect to yield a billion dollars or
more. We were told it could rival the Tobacco settlement, but we
had to make sure that none of the victims surrendered their right
to sue. They could end up with a couple of millions dollars but
then we'd get nothing."
Al: "You know this is
so stereotypic. I'm not sure a lot folks are going to believe
it."
Mark: "I'm not sure I
believe it. I don't know. Maybe I got into it for the wrong
reason. The money has always been appealing but I can't say that's
what was driving me. Maybe being in New York in the middle of it
all just made it worse. I've been pretty naive about what I'm
doing. There have been a lot of positives about it. I mean, I've
invested seven years of my life in this."
Al: "So now what!"
Mark: "I've accepted a
teaching position at ___________. I'll be teaching ethics. Isn't
that ironic?"
Al: "Are you going to
tell it like it is or do you have to watch what you say?"
Mark: "They've pretty
much given me the go to develop the course in any direction. I'm
going to give it some time to settle. Right now I'm extremely
negative about a lot of things, particularly this victims
compensation issue. It's just greed. Everybody wants something for
nothing. It's legal blackmail and everybody knows it. Are we sick
or what!"
Al: "I don't suppose
you have any paper work, any documentation to prove your
story."
Mark: "These are
lawyers, not idiots. You never write anything down on paper that
could be used against you. I took some notes and have the
"quotes" down. And besides these people don't think they
are doing anything wrong. Sometimes I don't think they have any
souls."
Just for kicks I contacted the law
firm where Mark used to work to confirm his employment and asked
them about his story. They laughed it all off.
This was their response: "Our goal is
always to provide the finest legal representation in the most
ethical manner to our clients," they e-mailed me. "We
never use high pressure sales techniques to solicit business as
your source suggests. Any efforts to misrepresent the policies and
practices of this firm in a negative light will be aggressively
addressed both now and in the future."
In other words, if you print our name
we will sue your butt off. No thank you!
I recorded that conversation with
Mark two weeks ago. Today, Mark called to ask if I'd help him get
his story told on national TV. Dateline, here we come. I'll keep you
posted!
Al Ruechel, copyright 2002, all
rights reserved
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