Free by Reason of Sanity by Gene Grossman Page B

moved by anyone but professionals. The old security guard must have finally noticed the accident because he walks over to where Drago is lying. In less than ten minutes, the paramedics arrive, get him onto a gurney, and remove him from the bank.
    I watch the part where Drago falls, over and over again. It looks strange that a fall like that would injure his ribs. This doesn’t compute, so I ask the office to prepare a subpoena for his hospital records and X-rays. I want to get an independent medical opinion on this because if his ribs were damaged before the fall, then our client may only be responsible for aggravating a pre-existing injury. I also want to know if he hurt anything else when he landed on his ass.
    This is where working for an insurance defense firm really comes in handy. Getting medical records out of hospitals and finding doctors to testify is their bread and butter, so everything gets done at warp speed.
    I also want to know if there’s any connection between Blitzstien and Drago, so I instruct the authorized investigation service to run credit reports and extensive civil background checks on both of them to see if there’s any way they might have known each other before the murder. No wonder it’s so tough to beat an insurance company. I now appreciate the benefits of having unlimited assets to avail myself of the services of the big investigative firms, but nothing beats the personal service of a guy like Jack B. and his dedication to the case, and not the fee.
    Harold’s shrink exam results probably won’t be back for at least another month, and the special investigations I requested won’t be completed for at least a week or two, so now’s a good time to concentrate on Stuart’s defense to those barratry and champerty counter-claims.
    At this point I’m a little confused. According to the common law definitions of Champerty and Maintenance, anyone who finances another person’s lawsuit and then shares in the proceeds is guilty of the offense, but that’s what lawyers do every day. It’s the main basis of an attorney’s Contingency Agreement. The client pays nothing unless the lawyer wins the case. In the typical contingency case, a lawyer advances all costs of litigation and if there’s a victory, the lawyer gets reimbursed for his expenses and also takes a percentage of the recovery.
    Several years ago the legislature saw fit to prohibit private investigators from also working on a contingency basis, because they’re usually called to testify. It was felt that no witness’ credibility should be tempted by monetary reward. That’s the reason why people who’ve already sold their story to a magazine are looked upon as less than credible witnesses. If they change their testimony in court in any way that differs with the exaggerations contained in their previously sold story, they run the risk of being asked to return their fee from the magazine.
    I guess that because most of the legislature is composed of attorneys, they rationalized exempting contingency lawyers’ fees because the lawyer can’t be called to testify in a case he’s working on. Also, contingency fees give people access to legal representation that they’d probably never be able to afford.
    But this reasoning doesn’t help Stuart. He can’t claim he was working on a contingency, because he’s not a lawyer. And if he were a lawyer, he wouldn’t be allowed to bring all those actions, because they don’t allow lawyers to represent people in Small Claims Court.
    It’s true that S tuart advertises for clients who have received un-solicited faxes but he doesn’t create unfounded claims. Unlike a recent situation where some Beverly Hills law firm filed actions against hundreds of small businesses claiming that the risk of consumer fraud might exist, Stuart has actual fax receivers who have valid claims. All that Stuart does is organize them and process their claims. He’s one step above those typing services that help