IT AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE, BUT IT'LL DO

Becoming a plaintiffs'personal injury lawyer in 2010 is a little like becoming a cowboy in 1910. The landscape has changed drastically over the past thirty or forty years.

Propaganda spawned by the insurance industry has influenced juror attitudes even before the summons for jury service has been received. Today’s prospective juror probably believes, incorrectly, that the courts are drowning in a sea of frivolous lawsuits, that verdicts are spiraling out of control and that the American civil justice system is a slot machine that always pays off. Certainly the advertising and websites of some law firms do little to dispel this belief. I regularly see some law firms advertise that they win 96% or 98% of their cases, which seems unlikely unless settlements are factored in - in which case everybody is doing it. Some law firms also list the “millions” of dollars they have won for their clients, similar to how McDonalds used to advertise the number of hamburgers it sold.

But times have changes and experienced lawyers know that. In truth, today's jurors are often skeptical about our clients and their cases. And if that weren’t bad enough, there are a lot of fingers in the litigation pie. If and when the jury awards the plaintiff a verdict, it is tantamount to opening up a picnic basket in the forest. Before you can ask who’s hungry, ants have appeared and the next thing you know they are crawling all over the sandwiches. Similarly a plaintiff's verdict may get eaten away by hospital liens, doctor liens, Medicare liens and health insurance liens. Sometimes an employer based ERISA plan will arrive at the scene taking the entire award for itself, leaving nothing behind for the plaintiff and his or her attorney. Adding to the bleak times: legislation designed to limit the amount of money that juries can award.

In this environment, one would think that plaintiffs’ lawyers would simply pick up their chips from the table and move on. But we don’t. Why? Because we can’t.

Consider Sam Peckinpah’s immortal film, The Wild Bunch. First released in 1969, the fictional events of the story take place in 1913.

The Wild Bunch is about antiheros. These are cowboys and the old west is dying. Being pursued for their crimes, they flee to Mexico where almost by inadvertence they become involved in a tug of war between the rebel forces of Pancho Villa and a corrupt national army. At the climax of the film, four members of the bunch sacrifice their lives in a violent act of redemption that liberates a small town from the savagery of a corrupt and sadistic Mexican general.

After the battle, only one member of the bunch remains: Freddie Sykes. Sykes encounters Deke Thornton, a former member of the bunch who had been forced at gunpoint to hunt them down. Now freed from these chains, Deke wants back in. But back into - what? The world that once existed and gave meaning to his life has evaporated. But Sykes welcomes Thornton back nonetheless with these final words that will define their future: It ain't what it used to be, but it’ll do.

That’s how it has become for plaintiffs' lawyers. The truth is that we are addicts and our addiction is to justice. It’s getting increasingly difficult for a plaintiff’s lawyer to obtain justice. But it still happens once in a while, and when it does, it is magical. And that’s what keeps us coming back.

It ain't what it used to be, but it’ll do.