Unlike other attorneys who bill clients at an hourly rate, trial lawyers usually charge a contingency fee. If they lose your case, they get nothing. But if they win, they'll take as much as 50 percent of your award. Since litigation is expensive, contingency fees are justified as a way to give plaintiffs of modest means a way to sue wealthier defendants. But there's a catch.
Trial lawyers say the system works just fine, and work hard to keep it in place.
Let's take a look. Enter Dr. Sidney Wolfe, president of the Public Citizen Health Research Group. Concerned about ruptures, systemic disease and a study showing that small amounts of the gel inserted under the skins of rats had caused cancer, he urged the FDA to ban breast implants. The agency investigated and found insufficient evidence to support the cancer charge. Both were involved in pending litigation as paid experts for the plaintiffs' bar, though that wasn't mentioned.