RE Merck taking cases to court -- the same thing happened up at Yale
Med. For a long time their liability insurer would settle nearly
anything. They changed that, self insured, and began defending --
turns out there's a lot (make that a LOT) of cost associated with
bringing a claim, so whoever was suing had to make an important
investment, and the lawyers, working on contingency, began to lose.

Yale's payouts and losses have gone way down since then (at least by
half, if I remember correctly.) The idea was, those 'nickle and dime'
-- (hundreds of thousands of dollar) settlements had added up, and
forcing them to court put a stop to many of them.

The insrurance companies, if you think about it for a bit, have little
to gain by ligating smaller claims. Premiums are adjusted to cover
their 'losses'. On the other hand, if one self insures, as Yale had
been doing (and yes they have big ticket blanket converage as well) a
buck saved in payouts is a buck saved.

The other thing these cases have brought forward is the awful 'rent an
expert' business. There are MDs around who are willing to testify at
the drop of a fee. Many are now discredited -- if their CV of failed
cases is brought to the attention of the jury they find it takes more
than the degree and a goatee to earn respect.

Someone said it's the 98% of the lawyers who give the others a bad
name. The real precentage isn't nearly that high, what needs damning
is the legal system the offers incentives for many of these lawsuits.



On Mar 3, 12:30 pm, Nomen Nescio wrote:
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From: "Viperdoc"

It doesn't matter whether it makes sense or not. The lawyers for Cirrus will
settle rather than enter into a protracted and even more expensive court
case.

The lawyers for Cory Lidle will win.

I gotta admire Merck for being willing to take each and every Vioxx case
to court. As long as companies are willing to settle these cases "out of
court", they will continue to be a good source of income for lawyers.
Merck, at least, has stood up to the plate and said "If you want some
money, you're gonna have to work for it"
But I do agree with others that we need a "loser pays" system.

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