The shock and grief over Flight 9151 has already started to give way to recriminations, and to outright lunacy. And leave it to talk radio to jump to the attack. Not against the airlines, or the airport, or the federal avaiation people, but against lawyers.
It seems a number of law firms have posted advertisements in the Lexington Herald Leader. Or make that had posted. Two of the firms have since voluntarily pulled the ads, the other remaining one was dropped by the Herald Leader.
One of these firms was The Johnson Law Offices. Another was Krilec And Krilec Attorneys-At-Law. They in effect paid for quarter page ads, in one case a full page ad, offerring their services to the survivors of individuals killed in the air disaster.
Talk radio almost immediately went on the attack, and the local news chanels followed up on the flurry of outraged phone calls from listeners angry at the insensitivity and opportunism evidenced by the firms.
Not having heard the radio shows in question, I still have no doubt that these calls were invited by the hosts who doubtless went into the predictable conservative schpiel about greedy ambulance chasing attorneys out to make a quick multi-million dollar settlement off of the grief of the surviving family members by way of class action lawsuit.
What I do doubt seriously is that the radio talk show hosts had the family members welfare in mind so much as the welfare of the airlines and the airport. Conservative talk show hosts seem to all be of a single mind when it comes to tort attorneys and lawsuits. They seldom see one that is justified, and I doubt that this will be one of the few exceptions to that rule. Such lawsuits are bad for society, and for business, results in higher prices, more stringent regulations, and then more higher prices, and lay-offs, and on and on. If you're victimized, well, we feel your pain, but we don't want to intrude on your grief, hopefuly you will pull your self up by your boot straps, just trust in God, and by the way, fuck you.
Okay, sure, I'm as well wary of attorneys and their tactics, I think too they can go too far and do more harm than good, and are really out to make a quick buck and a name of themselves. But, on the other hand, these particular firms so far as I know did not approach the families directly. Sure, it may seem innappropriate and it certainly might be considered in bad taste.
ComAir, on the other hand, has also approached the family members, with a settlement offer of 25,000 dollars. Assumming that is 25,000 dollars per victim, that would amount to a total of 1,250,000 dollars divided up equally among next of kin or beneficiary.
The bodies have not even been buried yet.
To be fair, ComAir might not be even at fault. In fact, I would suggest the major fault lies with the airport, for not making sure the runways were adequately marked in the aftermath of renovation, which did seem to cause the pilot some confusion.
The major villain, on the other hand, may actually be the government. There were suppossed to be two Air Traffic Controllers on duty. There was only one. As a cost cutting measure, staff was reduced during non-peak hours, as it is assummed the new high-tech equipment is adequate to compensate. In at least this cae, of course, it wasn't.
Yet Air Traffic Controllers have for years complained that they are overstaffed, and overworked, to seemingly no avail.
This all seems to be yet another example of empty suits deciding what is necessary in the way of staffing personnel for jobs they have never in their lives performed and have no clue about.
The government, ComAir, and Lexington Bluegrass Airport need to come together with the families-by way of legal representation-and do what's right. That 1,250,000 dollar figure I arrived at might well be an appropriate sum. Not as a total, but per surviving family member and/or beneficiaries.
Then, they need to do what's right and hire the proper amout of Controllers, and take whatever other steps are necessary to prevent a repetition of this tragedy. If not, it will eventually happen again. And again. And again.
Some lawyers and the suits they file are indeed unnecessary and innapropriate, flagrantly obvious examples of greed and exploitation. If a lawsuit is filed in this case, this would not be one such example. In fact, this might be a perfect example of why people have the right to file their grievances with the courts. Nothing is more likely to make a business or government agency reform it's practices than by being hit hard and punished where it hurts, be that in the court of public opinion, or in it's bank account.
6 comments:
Those who cry and rant about lawyers will be the first ones to call a lawyer when they think they might have a case.
I know one such person who harped about those vile lawyers all the time, but when she saw her opportunity to make money via using a lawyer, that was, according to her, different.
That almost always seems to be the case, doesn't it? One more well know example might be that overtuffed blowhard Rush Limbaugh. Not being a listener, I still imagine he takes the predictable Republican oriented position towards trial attorneys and, by the way, drug addicts. Still, he doesn't seem to have had any qualms abou the ACLU filing a friend of the court brief on his behalf, to protect the confidentiality of his medical records while he was making a habit of doctor shopping for "Hillbilly Heroin".
I'm sure if you wanted to take the time you could come up with enough such blatant examples of hypocrisy to write a book, maybe a couple of them.
I do not believe that these lawyers actions to post print ads were out of benevolence or heartfelt compassion for the victims' families. I believe it was out of the desire to profit. I believe that an attorney that truly cared would have at least waited until the families were able to complete funeral arrangements before swooping in to offer to sue. A reasonable attorney recognizes that a grieving person will experience a flurry of emotions. A good lawyer will hopefully recognize that it is incredibly disrespectful to ask a family member to place a dollar worth amount upon the head of their lost loved one so close after the event.
Were the lawyers acting out of respect and concern for the families, they (the lawyers) might seriously consider receiving training on how to exercise more appropriate judgment. Their ad seems only as their attempt to capitalize upon the psychological vulnerability of the families.
That's all true enough, but my point is, it cuts both ways. Most of the people that are leading the charge in oppossition to the lawyers practices are no more interested in the welfare of the victims families than are the lawyers. The central figures of consideration in both cases are the airlines, and airport, and government-and the money that stands to be either gained or lost, depending on which side each is on. In both cases, I contend the victims families are little more than pawns.
It is the families who I am concerned with. As reprehensible as the attorneys actions might be, I hold those families will benefit more from the attorneys actions than from the self serving interests of the potential defendants and their supporters. This being the case, I am inclined to hold my nose and side with the lawyers.
I just have a hard time giving credit to the lawyers at this point. Sorry, dude.
I just have a hard time feeling much sympathy for the airline after they took all the family members into a room a day or two after the disaster, and asking them if they would accept twenty five thousand dollars, and if so they should signify by raising their hands.
Sorry, dudette, that kind of thing is why people need lawyers.
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