Stupid Lawyer Tricks: If you

by John Hawkins | August 7, 2002 5:12 pm

Stupid Lawyer Tricks: If you thought the intellectual crotch rot lawyers are foisting on our society couldn’t get any lamer than the reparations lawsuits and the suit against fast food restaurants for making people fat, think again[1]…

“Major corporations fear they are facing a wave of lawsuits seeking to hold them accountable for political oppression in the countries where they operate.”

In particular, they are eyeing a federal court case that opens Friday in New York involving a multibillion-dollar lawsuit filed by torture victims and their relatives against more than 100 corporate investors in South Africa under apartheid.”

“…The South Africa lawsuit, against Citigroup, Swiss financial giants UBS and Credit Suisse, and dozens of others, was filed in June on behalf of four South Africans who faced persecution under apartheid. The complaint said private companies helped support the racist regime.”

“…The lawsuit also represents a new phase in efforts by human rights activists to remedy overseas injustices by targeting deep-pocketed companies instead of foreign governments.

“We suddenly have a critical mass of cases,” said Dan O’Flaherty, vice president of the National Foreign Trade Council, adding that the lawsuits are becoming a “cottage industry” for lawyers.”

Does everyone understand how insane this is? The majority of nations in the world “persecute” people in some form or fashion or practice different types of human rights abuses. China anyone? Heck, a lot of Europeans will tell you the United States itself abuses minorities and is barbaric because we have the death penalty. In fact, South Africa itself has a lousy human rights record even today[2].

Now chances are this case isn’t going to get anywhere in the courts. So why bring the suit at all? It’s just another Jesse Jackson style shakedown. The lawyer’s real strategy is, “Either pay us money to go away or we’ll try to make you look bad in the press.” This, like Jesse Jackson’s shady enterprises, are really nothing but high stakes blackmail and should be illegal. At the very least, the loathsome lawyers that are bringing this case and their clients should be responsible for paying a portion of the companies legal fees for wasting their time with this sort of nuisance lawsuit but that would require tort reform..something the Democrats and their trial lawyer constituents are preventing.

Endnotes:
  1. think again: http://www.washtimes.com/business/20020807-32096758.htm
  2. lousy human rights record even today: http://allafrica.com/stories/200102270271.html

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