Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1927-11-17
CHANGE THE LAW

At the recent session of district
court in Pine City, this county had
another touch of imported personal
injury cases. 1t did however not last
as long as a glance at the court cal
endar would indicate that it might
last Six imported cases of persons
being injured in railroad accidents
were scheduled but only two materi-
allied. Those were the John J. Nc
Cormick case from Robbinsdale, a
$4,000 suit, and the L. Wedeen case
from Superior, a $4,000 suit. Nc
Cormick got nothing while Wedeen
got $4,000 verdict The first case
occupied about a weeks time of the
court and the latter case five days.
All this litigation runs into money
perhaps between 5000 and $500 every
day court is in session and the tax
payers of Pine county foot the bills.
That is the distressing part of it.
Much has been written in the
press about imported cases in the
various counties of the state and
different means of suppressing it have
been suggested-all laboring on the
enough litigation of its own without
going through the troubles of out
siders from distant places-sometimes
several hundred miles distant and
from other states.
Some newspapers have suggested
that this imported damage suit pesti-
lence would end if jury or two
would indicate that they were not
wanted by returning low verdict or
two.
The St. Cloud Journal-Press wrote:
"As long as jurors go to the limit
in handing out big monetary verdicts,
just so long will the property owners
of Stearns county-farmers and all
others-have to dig down in their
pockets to pay the court cost of trials
and in the course of a year it
amounts to distressing total. How
long will Stearns county continue to
be sob-sister for the outside liti-
giants? The jurors of Douglas and
Todd counties got wise to the situa-
ton two or three years ago-but those
of Stearns county are slow in learn
ing. Meanwhile they are adding to
the tax rate that only Stearns county
folks have to pay. Why should suits
not be tried where they originate?
Why unload to outside taxpayers?"
The Long Prairie leader expressed
this opinion:
ut is great reflection upon the
intelligence, the honesty, and sense
of fair play of the citizens of coun-
ty to have the ambulance-chasing
lawyer bring a personal damage suit
into the county for trial"
The thing to do is to get at the
root of the evil.
Some Of these suggestions may be
all right and again they may work
an injustice on poor crippled man.
Undoubtedly the practice was started
torneys, thinking that they could get
bigger verdicts in some places than
at home, and thus a bigger commits
sion. But when a man has lost leg
or an arm, or is crippled in some
other manner, has engaged an attor-
ney to bring suit (not knowing per-
haps that he has gotten the ambu-
lance chasing type who is after a big
stake for himself) and the case is
taken to some other county or state,
should the unfortunate man then be
turned down with small verdict or
none at all just because the case does
really not belong in that court? No,
certainly not, the man is entitled to
a square deal, and just because he is
being handled by shyster attorney
is no reason that he should not get
his just dues.
To get at the root of the evil the
law must be changed. There is no
use of hollering so much about those
imported cases, but work toward get
ting the law changed. The case of
course, should be tried where the &C
cident occurred and that is the way
the law should read We can spill all
the propaganda that we want to about
giving low or no verdictS at all to
imported personal injury cases, on
the grounds that it will keep them
out of the county, and it might help
some, but as above stated it might
also work an injustice in some cases,
and there is another thing to take in
to consideration, and that is that jury
men change each year. The propa-
ganda will have to be renewed annu-
ally. Furthermore, imported cases
have likely not been tried in all
counties of the state, nor have they
been tried in all the states in the