Money Transfer

Our legal system has dipped into your grocery money and taken a sizeable chunk and put it in the lawyers’ pocket and spread a little around to the “plaintive”, $10.5 million to be exact.  With the settlement by Publix in the race discrimination suit, the company says “we can put it behind us.”  Unfortunately we as shoppers will not be able to.  Out of this pot of money the lawyers got a cool $2.4 million.  The most any one plaintive of the lawsuit will get is $55,000.  You decide just who is the winner here?  Another little nugget in the settlement… the aggrieved party, blacks, will get a special termination policy, unique to them.  If you get fired you have two appeals and then ask for mediation.  A special policy for a specific group…hmmmmm,  Oh, well, what’s a little discrimination between lawyers, anyway! 

How will it affect us?  Oh, slightly, but every time you shop at Publix you will pay a little more, and you will get a little less service.  Don’t think you can avoid this by going to another grocery store; they too are burdened (and hence we the shoppers) with the same culture of litigation.  Every big legal settlement eventually trickles down to the ultimate victim, the consumer.  Every “great benefit” provided by the government such as Patients Bill of Rights, or family and medical leave, you and I eventually pay.

These lawsuits against these big rich companies and government benefits sound so nice and “really won’t cost us anything” and many are completely hidden from sight but they are real, they will add up and we will pay!  Add up all the paper work required, the new policy edicts and resultant “employee education seminars”, the fear of firing a questionable employee and meetings devoted to meeting a standard rather than on how to provide good value to the customer and it will cost…. You!

It is agreed that this will cost US, the consumer money, not Publix, right?  But you might ask how will it affect service?  After all, there should not be discrimination, right.  Right, but how do you define discrimination?  It is defined by a $10.5 million lawsuit.  It is defined by which suits are brought against which company.  It is defined by which company is successful and profitable and can pay a huge settlement or a settlement adequate for the attorney to get involved.   Discrimination is defined by which minority or victim class can be portrayed sympathetically in the court room.  It is defined by the class action lawyers and willing jury who blithely thinks the bad buy is the company and should pay!  Not even thinking that he is deciding that every consumer will have to ante up.

Publix will have to bend over backwards to abide by the agreement.  They will have to lower their standards; they will have to overlook some things because of the situation.  This is not a slam at blacks, because Publix and every other big successful company has to have one eye on the lawyers and the other on the every potential “victim”.

The company said the “right” things.  “This was a good solution for both parties” “… the litigation was costly to both parties “(I hope the spokesmen for both parties realizes that the most injured party is the consumer!) and finally the Publix spokeswoman said they could now put race cases behind them.

Wrong.  The only way a successful profitable company can put these class action lawsuits behind them is to become an unsuccessful and an unprofitable company.   The lawyers will have little interest in you even if you really discriminate.

The best way is to go the way of Dow Corning, maker of breast implants. The lawyers were able to win the case and were able to line their pockets with millions and the supposed victims got a pittance.  But the billions that were sapped out of the company forced it in to bankruptcy.  Well after the settlement it was determined that the implants did not cause the problem.  Too late the lawyers and the “victims” had cashed the check!  In this case the company employees and the stockholders were the big looser.  But it was a most effective way to put these class action suits “behind them”. 

Almost everything you buy is just a little more expensive because of a tort system that is out of control.  Ah, it’s just a few pennies….  But a billion here and a billion there soon add up to a real chunk out of your pocket.