THE KING (OF TORTS) IS DEAD.....

Class action lawsuits have twisted the U.S. legal system into pretzels in recent years. Greedy lawyers have stalked large corporations looking for any possible soft spot into which they could throw a lawsuit. There was no shortage of potential targets---any big corporation with deep pockets and a decent reputation was threatened by those lawyers. And all too often the courts played into the hands of the class action lawyers and allowed frivolous suits to proceed. The company's stock went down. So sue them, even though the stock market in general went down in parallel fashion. A consumer claimed damages as a result of using a company product. So sue them, even though the consumer was paid under the table to file the claim. A company allowed itself to be acquired in a merger deal. So sue them, even though the merger made perfect sense financially, and was for the benefit of the shareholders. Many companies, thusly sued, preferred to pay the legal-muggers rather than endure a protracted lawsuit. And the lawyers laughed all the way to the bank. Now the tide is turning. One of John Grisham's most exciting novels was titled "The King of Torts," (a tort being the legal term for a wrong, as in something getting twisted. See "torsion.") The novel told the story of a shark wearing a lawyer-skin suit---the prototype of the greed-driven class action hustler---and it uncovered the tricks of his illicit trade with no punches pulled. Any lawyer (including myself) who once had respect for the profession would have to have been severely embarrassed by this type of chicanery. William Lerach was one of the leading class action lawyers, and today he was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in instigating improper lawsuits. He and his firms had reportedly raked in hundreds of milllions of dollars in fees for their role in these scams. Much of that money came from the pockets of small investors in the companies---moms and pops and their mutual funds and pension plans. Other Lerach associates are yet to be tried and/or sentenced. Some self-styled "consumer advocates" praised the actions of the real-life class action lawyers as the only way "the system" could protect the little guy. When it was disclosed that some of the "little guys" were conspiring with, and getting paid by, the lawyers to commence otherwise groundless lawsuits, the courts and Congress finally started paying attention to the abuse of the system that was running rampant. No doubt Lerach will appeal, so it's uncertain whether he'll serve any much deserved time in the slammer. Once Lerach's involvement became known in legal circles, the law firms playing the class action game started losing their associates, and their clients, and their obscene paydays. At least for now the old king is dead. Long live.....who? Dare we hope that no other scandalous legal trends emerge? Tired old joke: What do you call 1,000 lawyers chained together at the bottom of the sea? Answer: A good start.