Sometimes when I read newspaper accounts of other personal injury lawyers’ cases I wonder why those lawyers bothered to take them. While I wouldn’t call them frivolous, they just don’t make economic sense. How can you make a living taking those kinds of cases?
Case on point. Disney World’s “It’s a Small World” ride gets stuck. While most riders are evacuated right away, a paraplegic (from a prior injury), who is difficult to remove, is left on the ride for 30 minutes while “It’s a Small World” blares over and over again.
He sues Disney in Federal Court, claiming they should have called firefighters to evacuate him along with the others. He claims his high blood pressure and tendency toward panic attacks were aggravated as he sat in the boat listening over and over again to “It’s a Small World”. How much money would you give him? What’s his case worth?
He got $4,000 for pain and suffering and $4,000 in statutory compensation under disabled protection laws. That’s far more than most upstate New York personal injury case juries would have awarded him for enduring ½ hour of annoying music.
To be honest, hearing “It’s a Small World” over and over again would make my blood boil too! But this guy’s lawyer took the case all the way to trial, which must have represented at least $20,000 worth of legal work, and ended up with only a $2,000 or $3,000 contingency fee. Hard to make a living that way.
There’s nothing wrong with taking on a small case on a big principle. There’s nothing wrong with fighting hard for a noble cause for little or no fee. I’ve done all of that. But I am having a hard time finding the big principle worth fighting for here. I don’t know whether to admire that lawyer or pity him.
I wonder what the theme of his case at trial was. “It’s a small case after all”. How about “I’m making a small fee after all”. You get the point . . .
Keep safe!
Mike Bersani
Email me at: bersani@mbk-law.com I’d love to hear from you!
Michael G. Bersani, Esq.
mbk-law.com Central NY Personal Injury Lawyers
Michaels Bersani Kalabanka
1-315-253-3293