Litigation

Trolling for 9/11 compensation act cash

By Carter Wood

From The New York Daily News, "9/11 litigators grabbed 'Zadroga' website name in bid to lure compensation cases":

WASHINGTON - The law firm that pocketed more than $100 million suing the city over Sept. 11 is trying to cash in on the just-passed Zadroga 9/11 health bill.

The hunt was on even before the House put its final stamp of approval on the $4.3 billion James Zadroga Health and Compensation Act last Wednesday - and long before President Obama signs it next week.

Ads began popping up touting Zadroga-Act.com with the tease: "WTC Compensation Fund: Free Consultation. Call Us Today." Clicking on that link, though, doesn't take you to a do-gooder advice site. It leads to the website of Worby Groner Edelman & Napoli Bern, the lawyers who represented most of the 10,000 9/11 plaintiffs and grabbed the bulk of the $150 million in contingency fees - about 25% - from the $625 million settlement.

The trial lawyer hunt was on, yet the newspaper never reported it.

The New York Daily News ran an old-fashioned tabloid campaign in support of H.R. 847, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, cheering on the legislation and blasting opponents in editorials and news columns alike. The self-interest of trial lawyers in the legislation was rarely if ever mentioned. If this story had run before final passage of the bill, the legislation might have looked significantly different -- perhaps the 10 percent cap on lawyer fees would have been reduced to 8 or 5 percent.

(Hat tip: Rob Port, Sayanythingblog.) 

Full post as published by Point of Law on December 27, 2010 (boomark / email).