oldrustytulsa, Tulsa (2/15/2009 5:28:16 AM)

Remember what Ben Franklin said about lawyers"They are the scum of the earth" and will lead to the ruination of America.And thats what Im talking about.

Jack Mackerel, Sand Springs (2/15/2009 6:35:20 AM)

Lawyers aren't worth anything.... until you need one.

The Reaper, Hells Gate (2/15/2009 7:34:20 AM)

Lawyers are a necessity but 33 & 20 percent is plenty.

Lancelot, (2/15/2009 7:46:38 AM)

I like the idea behind this bill. I believe we need tort reform too.

Lancelot, (2/15/2009 7:48:46 AM)

"They don't cap what the doctors or the insurance companies make," he said.
...
Actually they do, insurance companies do too

Lancelot, (2/15/2009 7:50:31 AM)

I meant to say: Insurance companies limit what doctors and hospitals can charge. * coffee's still brewing *

Lawrence, Tulsa (2/15/2009 7:57:08 AM)

"In Oklahoma, the contingency fee can be up to 50 percent. Sullivan's bill would lower that to 33 percent on the first $1 million in damages and 20 percent on anything more than that."

I think those are quite reasonable limits. Lawyers would still make a ton of money. And Lance is right, there are plenty of cases where limits are placed on what someone can charge.

Lawrence, Tulsa (2/15/2009 7:58:14 AM)

As a democrat, I'm ashamed that our party is the party of choice for trial lawyers.

The Real Joe Dolty, TULSA (2/15/2009 8:39:13 AM)

Lawyers will own less of the capital if this bill passes. It's about time the trial lawyers and their excesses and the damage they cause our state is addressed. Contingencies fees reform and tort reform is long overdue.

Graychin, Eucha (2/15/2009 8:45:21 AM)

Why would Republicans in the legislature want to restrict agreements between plaintiffs and their lawyers? I thought they opposed regulation and "big government."

This is all about restricting access to the courts. Nothing more, nothing less.

Fire The Politicians, (2/15/2009 8:52:35 AM)

Funny how the Republicans want to interfere with the private rights of citizens to contract with their lawyer. If the client doesn't want to pay 40 or 50%, all they have to do is go hire someone else. Dan Sullivan has some cases he has filed as a Plaintiff's lawyer. Bet he doesn't practice what he preaches. Look at who his clients are and look who Coffee represents. Doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, big corporations taking our money and paying out billions in bonuses. Their solution? Make it harder for these greedy --- to be held accountable.

FYI, typically a lawyer spends $50-100,000 of his/her money to take the average case against a doctor/hospital to trial. If you are suing GM or a big drug company, the costs are even higher. If the case is lost, the client pays back 0 and the lawyer takes the loss and moves on. How many of you out there want to put up $50-100,000 of your money and take on these giant companies who have the resources to spend whatever they want to try to cheat the Plaintiff?

The Real Joe Dolty, TULSA (2/15/2009 8:52:47 AM)

How does this restrict access to the courts?

The Real Joe Dolty, TULSA (2/15/2009 9:03:06 AM)

On a $10 million judgement the lawyers fee is reduced from $5 million to $2.1 million. That is why the lawyers are against this. There is no argument that can be made that would convince me that $2.1 million is not enough.

quixote, Tulsa (2/15/2009 9:12:58 AM)

How to tell that you’ve been brainwashed:

A law is proposed to protect corporations and their insurance companies by limiting the fees of lawyers that sue them on behalf of injured people

You’re not a corporation or insurance company

You support the law = You’ve been brainwashed.

The republicans and big business have been successful in convincing a lot of people to support laws that protect negligent companies and work against individuals who have been harmed. Do some research about the claims that lawsuits are out of control. It isn’t so. Dan Sullivan is a lawyer. He represents insurances companies. He wants to limit your lawyer’s fee, not his. Think that through.

The Real Joe Dolty, TULSA (2/15/2009 9:25:35 AM)

Sorry, but lawsuits are out of control as are lawyer's fees

LE, Tulsa (2/15/2009 9:38:39 AM)

That's why you shouldn't think

Headhunter66, Laguna Hills (2/15/2009 9:47:05 AM)

AD says - Are they going to limit what Corporate Lawyers can charge. Because I guarantee you they make more than Trial Lawyers ever thought about.

NO THANKS, Mr. Sullivan. I don't want a Bottom Feeding Corporate Lawyer setting limits on what my lawyer can charge.
________________

If it weren't for ambulance chasing lawyers, corporations wouldn't need Bottom Feeding Lawyers and then everybody would be saving money.

What percentage of our politicians are lawyers? More than 50%. Why?

Lawyers make laws to self-perpetuate themselves, laughing all the way to the bank.

The simple handshake has become 1000's of pages of official documents that say "bla bla bla".

Thank God I found another job before my law classes at OU started. That was during the Pres. Carter depression in the 80's. It was a depression and not a recession because "I" was out of work.

The Real Joe Dolty, TULSA (2/15/2009 9:48:24 AM)

What's hypocritical is the liberals want to limit corporate executive pay but not lawyer pay.

Eagle 4, Tulsa (2/15/2009 10:24:48 AM)

You're right, Graychin and quixote, the net effect would be that "penny-ante" cases would never see court and thus greatly reduce the stacks of litigation against corporations for wrongful acts.

Hey, if the Fat cats can tell CEOs and auto workers what they can make, why not lawyers? Where does it stop, people? Why not just hand the remnants of our freedoms over to the military-industrial complex and get it over with? We're being slapped to death, one law at a time.

Loophole, (2/15/2009 10:28:32 AM)

If it wasn't for the contingent fee, people who couldn't otherwise afford lawyers would be run over by the big corporations. Don't forget, it's the lawyer who has to invest thousands and sometimes tens of thousands in a case to get it to court and if he loses, that money is gone. Since it is the Plaintiff who must prove their case and the Defendant has no burden of proof at all, the contingent fee is the only key to the courthouse for many.

Ignatz, Broken Bow (2/15/2009 10:35:21 AM)

According to Goerge W. Bush's Dept of Justice stats only 2% of all court filings are "torts", the number of filings has decreased from 2005 to the preent, the average award in a tort case is $24,000.00. The Insurance companies (whoo do not have to reveal what they pay out on claims made) throw this million dollar figure out to scare people. I have precticed law for over 30 years and can't remember a single $10,000,000.00 collectible verdict ever in Oklahoma. I can remember maybe a half a dozen million dollr collectible verdicts. I never heard of a single big dollar verdict in Oklahoma on the what the insurance companies call "frivolous" law suits when they trot out some goofy case in some other state as an example of what they want to stop. Insurance profits continue to soar, rates do not go down (50% higher across the board in Texas after "tort reform")and in fact go up. They do not settle with people off the street who are not represented. Both the hospital and doctor told a client I had one time to basically drop dead after she was left with a quadraplegic and brain damaged infant after a botched birth. I had to spend $86,000.00 of my own money and drag them before a jury before they paid up, and even in that case there was not amillion to spread arpund. Very few lawyers can even afford to take that kind of chance and this bill would punish every lawyer but the biggest of firms. The largest cash judgment contingency fees collected are by trial lawyers representing major corporations suing each other. Why aren't their fees reduced? This bill is to curb ordinary citizen access to the Courts, where insurance comapnies have a mortal fee of being found out for what they really are...a profit driven industry that has no snese of publi responsibility and which routinely denies good claims in hopes the victim will just go away. A vibrant legal system is the only thing that prevents them from runningroughshod over us all.

Ignatz, Broken Bow (2/15/2009 10:37:06 AM)

sorry about typos, typing a litle too fast for my own good.

Yiddish Engineer, (2/15/2009 10:41:55 AM)

We pay what the market will let us pay....

Dr. Strangelove, Tulsa (2/15/2009 10:44:14 AM)

Good post Ignatz, I agree completely

Ben, (2/15/2009 10:49:12 AM)

Some of you children need to grow up. The name calling is rediculous, and makes you look foolish.

This law will undoubtedly restrict access to courts. Some lawsuits are very expensive to bring to court, and Plaintiff's lawyers foot that entire bill with no guarantee that they will see a return on their money. The large percentage they receive is the only reason some of these lawsuits will see the light of day, and not because they are without merit, but because they are extremely difficult to take to court. Some cases simply aren't worth it for 30%, so they won't see the light of day, regardless of the merits.

Most lawyers will never see a $10 million lawsuit. Most of the Plaintiff lawyers that I know are faaaaar from rich. In fact, I only know one or two that made it big. The rich lawyers are the ones that work for insurance companies that wrote this bill. Wake up people! Stop gobbling up what the republican party is spewing.