The Arizona sentinel., 1886-04-10
"SHARK" LAWYERS.
How They Work Up Testimony in Damage
 Cases and Prosecute the Suits.

How They Work Up Testimony in Damage
 Cases and Prosecute the Suits.
 "I don't believe the taxpayers of this city have any idea of the number oi schemes which are being concocted tc bleed the city treasury" said City Attorney Washburne to a reporter. 'Ir the matter of personal-injury cases alone we have to defend suits involving claims for damages of such magnitude that were half of the contestants success ful the treasury would be bankrupted.
 Hast year we defended forty-one personal-iniury cases. The total dam ages sought to be recovered amounted to S312, ,500. That majority of these cases were unjustly brought In the hope that sympathetic juries would give dis honest judgments against the city is evidenced by the fact that but $S,7S0 out of the S312, 500 claimed was paid.
 "Since January l, the beginning of the present year, we have defended ten of these cases, where total of S105, ,000 was claimed as damages. The amount recovered was S900. The limited suc- cess attending the efforts of the prose cutors of these cases is discOuraging the speculation which has heretofore been indulged in to so great an extent, and l am glad to say that there are very few new suits being filed against the city at the present time.
 "What do I mean by speculation? 1 mean that nearly all of these cases are brought ostensibly by the injured par ties, but in reality by attorneys who, for a certain percentage of the judgments obtained, assume control of the suits, pay the costs, and undertake to furnish their own time in conducting them free of charge in case nothing is recov- cred. Many of these attorneys are reputable men in their profession, who honestly believe damages should and can be recovered by law. Others are miserable shysters, who will resort to any measure to win case. They will testimony for them to introduce, fix iuries and resort to any other criminal practices they can possibly employ with out apprehension.
 sIt is this class of men I am after. and one of these days am going to get enough evidence against some one of them to send him down to Joliet and make an example of him. I recently caused warrant to be issued against a witness in one of these cases, against whom had all the evidence necessary to convict him of perjury. He slipped through the officers fingers and Il. Ia IoI I II confident he would have 'squealed' on the real perpetrators of the job,' and 1 would have had full-fedged attorney behind the bars in company with his perjured assistant.
 ''If you want to know how many of our lesser legal lights gain livelihood go to the county coroner office regular 1y every day and watch the clerks of law firms as they carefully scan the daily record of casualties and copy the testi- mony of inquests. Often the relatives of deceased people never think of insti- tuting damage proceedings until these sharks send their representatives around and maKe propositions to conduct the cases at their own expense, sharing the results equally after the costs. The first thing an attor- ney does is to work up all the damaging evidence, real or manufactured, possi- ble, and then, presenting the case in an exaggerated Ii ght before the plaintiff, endeavor to bulldoze him into settle ment. Too often they succeed where the plaintiff is private individual, but as rule corporations will come to no settlement without an examination of the case before a magistrate. In all claims against the city, if they are pre- sented in due form, the council refers them to the law department, and if, after careful examination, we find the claim a just one, we recommend its set clement to the finance committee. A great many cases are amicably settled in this manner. "-C Chicago Ne10S.