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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.
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.