Tortured Justice

I am angry. The lawyers will get $19 million, the plaintiffs have no damages and I have been involved in an abuse of justice. I received notice yesterday that I was a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against Bridgestone/Firestone that is about to be settled. I was never injured by Firestone but that's ok because injured people have their own lawsuit the one I am involved in is for people who were not injured. The lawsuit reads "Plaintiff Does Not Seek To Represent And This Litigation Does Not Involve Any Person Who Alleges That He or She Suffered Any Personal Injury or Property Damage Because Of A Failure Of One Of The Tires" (capitalization in original.) Bear in mind that Firestone has already replaced all four of my tires with a competitor's brand for free and similarly for many of the other plaintiffs.

The settlement is simple, Firestone agrees to sell and advertise tires (as part of a safety awareness program). The plaintiffs get nothing except for the named plaintiff who gets $2500. The lawyers? "Plaintiff intends to seek, and Firestone will not object to, an award of $19 million for all fees, costs and and expenses..." Plantiff's attorney Zona Jones says "The outcome is one that we believe is extremely positive." Yeah, right.

Cases like this should be thrown out by judges. But that is not going to happen because the case was brought in Texas where judges are selected by partisan elections. My research (summary here) shows that awards against out-of-state defendants are much higher in states that select their judges using partisan elections compared to other states. I have little doubt that the plaintiff's lawyers (or their firm) are big contributors to Judge Donald Floyd's reelection campaign (this is neither illegal nor uncommon in Texas).

I do not blame Firestone for settling, they comment that they have done so only "to avoid further expense, burden, distraction, and inconvenience of litigation." But I am outraged that against my will I have been made a party to extortion and am saddened that Firestone believes, probably correctly, that they risk more than 19 million dollars by letting this trashy lawsuit go to court.