Essay - The Litigation Machine by Bringing to Light the Somewhat Clandestine...

The Litigation Machine

***** bringing to light the somewhat clandestine techniques of ***** tort system, Mike France makes a compelling case for ***** re*****m in his article "The Litigation Machine." By exposing some ***** the lesser known facts regarding tort reform, the article points out how ***** American legal system continues to sink in***** the quagmire of tort law and how reform is necessary before the situation gets completely out of h*****.

France beg*****s the article with perhaps the most popular litigation cases and reveals tactics used in that case ***** many others that make the case ***** ***** law is completely driven by money and is in need of ***** to save ***** economy.

***** starters, the ***** ***** out that a ***** packet is available for purchase ***** regards ***** any cases regarding Firestone ***** their infamous tread separation; ***** fact is enough to prove that the world ***** litigation has moved in a new direction. But it doesn't s*****p there—the ********** revealed that such ***** packets are available ***** other companies such as Warner-Lambert Co. and Rezulin, which indicates the ***** of tort lawyers is a growing industry, one that may be spinning out of control at a t rapid pace.

The ar*****icle also explained how l*****ig*****ion lawyers have advanced rapidly with the advent ***** ***** information age, using the speed of the internet and ***** expanse of data bases to ***** benefit. Suddenly, France notes, the scales have been evened out a bit, stating that "Tort lawyers ***** made amazing advances--particularly in the crucial areas of research, teamwork, ***** f*****ance."

The ***** incredible gain, according ***** ***** ***** the "automation ***** research" which has been field ***** the internet. By noting such sites as ATLA and AIEG, whose main purpose is to provide advice from o*****r lawyers, lists of verdicts ***** settlements, and court documents. The articles also mentions that the AIEG operates on the principle that its members forward any interesting documents regarding corporate lawsuit to the central datab*****e. The most ***** fact ***** ***** AIEG database is that it urges members to negotiate for "protective orders" ***** allow them to share documentati***** with other plaintiffs' at*****rneys. The result of t***** sharing is a massive database holding huge amounts of ***** that "ordinary civilians, and even government regulators, never see."

As an example of how th***** kind of sharing can tilt the scales unbelievably is the Ford-***** case. The article reported that long be*****e the Congress forced the companies to turn over documents relating to the matter, the AIEG had already "accumulated 400,000 pages of material on the **********."

Just as the ***** operates on sharing informati*****, the ATLA operates in a similar fashion, according to the article. ***** lawyers are better at working together, France claims, which makes everyone a winner when it comes to ***** and causes. ***** ***** has at least 61 litig*****ion groups, ranging from automatic-door malfunctions to defective toys to tap-water burns. The groups form al***** immediately after some such