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Lawyer Is Big Winner In Webcamgate Settlement
crimeandpunishment writes "The Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania has agreed to a $610,000 settlement in two lawsuits over secret photos taken on school-issued laptops. Less than a third of that will go to the students. A total of $185,000 will be put in trust for the students. Their lawyer will receive $425,000."
Tough call for me, on this one.
On the one hand, I don't even bother participating in the various class actions suits I qualify for, because my dignity costs more than a $5 gift certificate. The lawyers in those situations should make far, far less.
In this situation, though, that really amounts to a pittance for even a small legal team, perhaps three lawyers plus their supporting staff, working for a solid two months on the case; Unfortunately, this one had no big corporate pockets to raid, and even in winning, the community (rather than the school administration) suffers. So a bigger payout that might really have given the kids something to enjoy, wouldn't have counted as a win for anyone.
Personally, I'd much rather have seen the school administration facing child porn charges, and no civil penalties involved. Then, and only then, could we have seen a "win" here.
Most IT professionals will answer computer questions for free. Hell, even when it goes beyond just answering a question and it actually involves work, a lot of us will still do it for free or at least low cost.
How about if you went to a stockbroker and said "Hey, I know this really hot stock. I can tell you which one it is, and YOU can invest YOUR money into it. On top of that, YOU can keep 70% of the profits!"
I'd like to meet any stockbroker that would go for this sort of arrangement, because I've got some pretty mean ideas for investments, and hell, I'd let them keep 75% of the profits!
-Arthur
Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules
It is true that a single-payer legal care system would be more fair. As it is the wealthy with infinite legal resources only have to comply with about 25% of the law, while everyone else is held to a stricter standard. The poor may receive free legal aid and public defenders, but society basically tolerates them as a criminal class anyway. Really the American middle-class is hardest squeezed by greedy legal companies and should demand government recognition of the right to legal care.