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Sad story. The only winners are the lawyers.
Another example of lawyers taking advantage of the laws written by … lawyer politicians. This event happened in December and they probably settled for policy limits. That sure as heck is not worth $490,000.
The lawyers should be ashamed of themselves, but that wouldn’t be one-percenter like, would it?
Are you kidding me? How can the lawyers sleep at night? Those that are truly victimized always seem to lose.
I am concerned that this young man was drunk while managing the restaurant. In the event of a fire or other catastophe, the patrons would have been at increased risk of injury or death.
And, yes, the legal costs are far in excess of reasonable. There ought to be rigid financial guidelines for legal fees.
How sad/sick is this story? The lawyers really did a great job for themselves, we can only hope they get what they deserve. If a Judge approves this, he ought to be run out of the state!!!
The judge approved it,
Bloodsuckers! That’s disgusting.
Judge is merely abiding by the law in that state. The plaintiffs contractually agreed “up front” on the split of the award, which is always the maximum allowed by law.
there must be a lot more I dont understand why the restaurant would be responsible for his actions.
They allowed him to become intoxicated while on the job. That makes them negligent.
I am sure the attorneys took this on a contingency basis, which means there was a risk that they would put in a lot of work and get nothing in the end. Yes, the attorneys made out well on this case, but there are plenty of times when the attorney will get next to nothing in a civil matter. I see articles on here all the time saying some company was found not to be responsible for an injury, which means the injured party got nothing and neither did their attorney. (A fact that is usually left out of those stories.)
It is also a sign that the suit should not have brought in the first place.
And it says attorneys’ fees and expenses – which may have been investigation costs, expert witness fees, etc. The attorneys may have only taken 1/3 of the award as their fee and rest went to expenses.
Right on Shari. According to this article: http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/08/06/49011.htm
court costs amounted to $50,000, leaving the attorneys with $440,00. The math shows that this is 40% of the total awarded. Although contingent fees are typically 1/3, or 33%, I don’t find 40% to be that far off base for a wrongful death suit. Furthermore, as has already been pointed out, contingent fees must be agreed upon before the suit is even filed with the court. The plaintiffs in this case definitely knew or should have known what they were doing at the onset of the case.