Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SilentZ who wrote (193581)	7/8/2004 9:39:00 AM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574001

Z, Personally, I think there should be some changes in the laws regarding class action lawsuits. Those really do reward the lawyers, do virtually nothing for the "victims", and can cripple companies. That's where the real predatory lawyers practice, not where Edwards practiced. Joe sounds like he would have it so that you can't file a civil suit. John

To: SilentZ who wrote (193581)	7/8/2004 1:13:14 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Respond to of 1574001

Z, But are you sure that it isn't just a case of the occasional ridiculous lawsuit getting overexposure from the media? Consider the class-action law firm of Bull & Lifshitz, LLP (www.nyclasslaw.com). After the dot.com bubble burst, this law firm filed class-action lawsuits against almost every company in the Fortune 500, practically cutting-n-pasting their brief from one case to another. It's exactly what you'd expect in each brief: Company misled investors, stock price fell, shareholders have a "right" to claim damages, yada yada yada. A lot of these cases were dismissed, including the one against Intel (dismissal was middle of last year), but some companies chose to settle rather than fight. An admission of guilt? Not legally. More like hush money. How much of that money do shareholders see? Very little, especially compared to the capital losses they're probably still carrying over from year to year. To you, this might seem like a necessary evil to enforce corporate governance and accountability. But to me, this is legalized extortion, a bunch of greedy lawyers going after the deep pockets and blackmailing them through the legal system. Now I see John Fowler has already advocated changes to the system of class action lawsuits, but he has also drawn a distinction between those and civil lawsuits. Personally, I think the problems plaguing both areas of law are similar, but in any case, the system needs reform. Only problem is, Washington is full of lawyers, because ... well, government is all about law, isn't it? Tenchusatsu