The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-14
COURT DENOUNCES BELLEVUE
FOR ALLOWING LAWYERS TO DIS
TURB ACCIDENT PATIENTS.

Ambulance Chasing" Carried Too Far,
Justice O'GOrman Points Out, and Al
lows Injured Cabman 20 Change Law
yer-ScandaIOus Conditions ALLEGED.
In granting to Mark Harrington, a cab
man who Is suing the city for damages
for personal injuries, an order authorizing
him to change his attorneys. Supreme
Court Justice O'GoTman took occasion
yesterday to denounce the practise Of
allowing ambulance chasing lawyers and
their represent atives to pursue their trade
at the bedside Of patients in the accident
wards Of Bellevue Hospital.
The undisputed facts on this mot lon, .
he says. If they are accepted as true, dis
close the existence of scandalous con-
dition in Bellevue Hospital which justly
exposes those In authority In that inst itu-
ton TO the gravest censure. The plaintiff
was subjected to the opportunities Of this
person Imeaning T. Ignazio Reeves, in whose
hands Harrington first placed his suit
as soon as the doctors completed their
initial examination. Reeves represented
himself as the president Of the Peoples
legal Aid Society and the regular attorney
and counsellor for the hospital. He inti-
mated that a failure to give him the case
would cause friction with the attendants,
and, considering his apparent authority
and the liberty he enjoyed in the building
in the presence Of the attendants and OF heTs,
II Is not surprising that he succeeded in
securing the patients signature to paper
authorizing him to commence suit and fixing
the attorneys compensation at 90 per cent.
Of the recovery.
aReves Is not a lawyer, but appears to
have some business relations with one Alex
ander MelhRdo, who Is an attorney, and who,
thereafter, In consideration, II Is claimed,
Of 500 and a share Of the attorneys fees,
turned over the case to one Delehanty,
whom the plaintiff has never seen, but who
appears as his attorney Of record. ] am
quite satisfied the original authorization
was procured by a species OF deceit and
duress at a time when the plaintiff was in
a st ate Of physical collapse and incapacl-
tated from attending to business.
According to the uncontradicted aver
ments in the papers this Is not an isolated
instance of gross injustice 10 a patient
while entitled to the care and protec; ion
Of the hospital authorities. Every day
during the period OF plaintiffs confne-
ment the said Reeves was permitted TO visit
newly arrived patients with solicitation
Of authority to commence suits. The
liberation Of such a discreditable practise,
II II exists, and II "a hoped that the papers
do not correctly portray conditions in That
institution, Is subversive OF the rights OF
the patients, and as an incentive frequently
TO the institution Of unmeritorious actions
Is positive menace to the community.
Our public hospitals are maintained for
the care and relief Of the afflicted and not
for the encouragement OF litigation
The papers filed In connection with Har-
rtngton's application for permission 20
change his lawyers disclose that the cab
man was thrown from his cab through
one OF the wheels slipping into hole in an
asphalt pavement. His leg was broken
and his suit is for $4,000 damages. In
view OF the circumstances, Justice O'Gor-
man exempts him from the penalty OF
paying costs up to date, which Is the gen
eral condition imposed on a litigant seek
ing to change his counsel.