WhoCanISue.com: Banking On A Stereotype

Time magazine has reported that a new lawyer referral website is about to launch in September.  The website, http://www.whocanisue.com/, is the brainchild of Florida attorney Curtis Wolfe.  As if lawyers don’t already have a bad name, this new website will help to reinforce the public’s perception that lawyers are bad for society because they intentionally look for anybody to sue no matter how strong or weak the case may be.  The site charges attorneys at least $1,000 per year to belong.  What a disservice.  The name itself perpetuates the stereotype that lawyers are out to file frivolous lawsuits to earn as much money as they possibly can.  I would never belong to such a site.  Most legitimate trial lawyers, the ones that only sue as a last resort and when the client’s cause is clearly meritorious, wouldn’t need such a service to generate clients.   

I note that Mr. Wolfe appears to be a business or transactional lawyer.  According to Time, Mr. Wolfe was general counsel for a private equity firm.  Now I may be wrong, but my bet is that Mr. Wolfe rarely saw the inside of a courtroom while in that position.  Most business lawyers or “General Counsel’s” as they like to be called, represent the business interests of the company they work for.  They usually detest lawsuits and are first in line to decry how frivolous lawsuits are ruining the country and costing big business millions if not billions.  Is this site a ruse?  Is the site being purposely launched to fuel the “tort deform” movement and give added ammunition to individual state legislators to enact even more pro-business and anti-consumer legislation (like damage caps, reduced contingency fees, and the like)?  If not, then Mr. Wolfe’s decision to pick the URL he has chosen is a very poor one.  It certainly tells me that this guy has likely never been in the trenches battling the big corporations and insurance companies on behalf of the individual man or woman.  If he had, then he would know how difficult it is to pick a jury in today’s climate where the majority of jurors believe that plaintiff lawyers are a blotch on society and cost everyone higher insurance premiums and make millions for filing frivolous lawsuits.  

I am a trial lawyer who regularly represents individuals against insurance companies so I know how skeptical jurors are of plaintiffs and their lawyers.  But let me state this: I don’t file frivolous lawsuits.  And even if I did, insurance companies and big business would fight such a suit tooth and nail.  They often don’t even pay reasonable compensation to settle legitimate injury claims, and the public’s perception that frivolous lawsuits generate millions for attorneys is just a big myth.  And unfortunately Mr. Wolfe’s new business venture will feed that myth.  Yep, the site is a real disservice to the profession and the lawyers who battle big business on behalf of the wronged little guy.

Christopher M. Davis
Attorney at Law
Davis Law Group, P.S.
Seattle, WA
www.InjuryTrialLawyer.com