Stefan wrote:

Admittedly I don't know much about the US legal system. But to my
knowledge, sentences are still made by judges and juries, not by
attorneys. So blame the judges, juries and maybe the legal system, but
not the attorneay who just try to make the "best" of it.

True, but attorneys file the suits and it is the threat of a great
number of suits or a class action suit that causes the settlements. It
is the settlements before at trial occurs that causes the problems as
much as it is the large occasional settlements. Dow-Corning settled in
the implant suits when it wasn't even at fault. That is simply wrong
and is a result of lawyers filing lots of suits that cost a fortune to
defend against. So the lawyers take a lion's share of the blame, but I
agree that judges and juries have their fair share as well along with
the plaintiffs.

Matt