Comment by fuzzybear3965 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by fuzzybear3965 | Hacker News Reader

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Expect some loss with this compression...

In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill, a high-powered class-action attorney hires a team of field agents to recruit disenfranchised gulf fisherman as litigants.

The field agents established a network of local recruiters to outsource clientele acquisition. Said agents bumble the solicitation of clients/fisherman, accepting fraudulent documentation from per-head subcontractors ($10 to $50 per litigant found).

So, high-powered attorney receives documentation for tens of thousands of fisherman clientele to support his class action.... But, they don't exist. Realizing this, he pursues the case anyway since abandonment disadvantages the small fraction of clientele that are legitimate (in that they are unable to litigate against B.P. in the future).

High-powered attorney wins the class action, ensuring to stipulate that no recourse can be had in the event that the clientele are found to be non-existent (the known case).

The U.S. government drags high-powered attorney and recruiting staff into criminal court. He defends himself and establishes a defense claiming himself to be a victim of his field agents.

Field agents are sentenced to many years in prison and high-powered attorney is found not guilty by a jury of his peers.

You may need a TL;DR for this TL;DR.

Wow, this is why lawyers have a terrible reputation. Profiting handsomely while coconspirators rot in jail.

Maybe the article is painting him in this light but what other choice did he have? If he dropped the suit then all the legitimate people wouldn't have any recourse. The people who messed up were the field agents.

He could have properly investigated the identity of the claimants at any time. More like he didn't want to know.

The choice of not breaking the law in collecting names in the first place, of not knowingly going ahead with a case he knew was bogus.

His work was a scam from the start, he had the choice to stop or come clean at every point of the way.

He’s supposed to ensure the people represented exist. That responsibility shouldn’t go away because he paid some poor runners 10$ to write down the names.

Imagine a rule of law where that was a legitimate escape from consequences. I could sue your boss in your name for some made up bogus claim, and when you come out saying: “wtf, I never had any say in this!?” I could walk away clean with a “oh yea, that’s true and I knew that was the case from early on, but I paid this hobo 2$ to write down your name, and I had to carry on, just in case you’d want to actually bring the suit anyway”, while pocketing my cut of the case costs.

> The people who messed up were the field agents.

I'm basing this on your TL;DR, but not only did he know (no way to get rid of the fakes?), it also sounds a little bit like he gave them some winks along the lines of "whatever if they're not real, just bring me claimants".

You'd be surprised. In law enforcement we'd get served with the craziest stuff from criminal targets that were attorneys. They'd literally try to bluff us into believing that whatever statute, evidence, or investigative methods relevant to the case were futile and would end up costing the agency millions in damages awards. In a case like the one in this article, if you can bluff a jury, you're golden. You could literally shoot someone in the public square and get away with it if you convince the jury it was reasonable.

“Realizing this, he pursues the case anyway since abandonment disadvantages the small fraction of clientele that are legitimate“

Let’s not attribute to well intentions what can accurately be attributed to entirely selfish monetary reasons. He pushed on because doing so meant he didn’t loose millions of dollars invested, and would net him millions as well as recognition and power. At no point did he give a damn about the numbers being fake or the people involved. The fact that he had someone to throw under the bus let him comfortably continue the scam. That seems extremely obvious.

The only reason the repercussions of people being pulled off the list is mentioned is because it would open up him to suits from the affected people because he knowingly included them without their knowledge in the first place.

This is almost exactly the plot of a John Grisham novel - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rooster_Bar

Wow. This actually inspired me to read the story, because that's crazy.

That's an excellent TL; DR. Thank you!

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