You May Be Entitled to Compensation
"You may be entitled to compensation…”
Wait. Haven’t I seen something like that before? Oh yeah, Publishers Clearing House (PCH) used to start with:
“You May Already Be a Winner!”
Back in the 1980s, for mailing in your information, you had a chance to win $10 million. The odds weren’t great, 1.2 billion to 1 against winning. Eventually, with confusion about whether you had to buy a magazine to win and people not understanding the odds, Congress passed a sweepstakes law and PCH got sued.
Today, with chemical tort trials, you just have to call a law firm to start the process to see if you are “entitled to compensation.” We know it’s real because we’ve seen it in movies like Erin Brockovich. That was about a chemical (hexavalent chromium) in the water in Hinkley, WV and had a heartwarming ending with a few people getting millions from an arbitration decision.
Today, nearly every person in the country may be entitled to compensation like the Hinkley plaintiffs. We are just beginning what one attorney calls “the mother of all toxic torts” – PFAS. These are the so-called “forever chemicals” that a CDC survey revealed that 97% of all Americans have in their blood.
There are over 9,000 PFAS chemicals found in at least 41,000 industrial and municipal sites as well as military bases, airports and textile mills. Since the 1940s, they have been used in stain- and water-resistant fabrics and carpeting, cleaning products, paints, fire-fighting foams, cookware, food packaging, and food processing equipment. Even cosmetics like L’Oréal and CoverGirl are being sued.
They have been linked to adverse health effects including “liver damage, thyroid disease, decreased fertility, high cholesterol, obesity, hormone suppression and cancer.”
In other words, there are thousands of PFAS chemicals found just about everywhere in the environment, with thousands of firms at fault, almost everyone having some level of it in their blood, and it may cause just about every kind of illness imaginable.
Despite the science being iffy, to make things even better, some courts have found that claimants can be eligible for compensation even if they are just afraid they may get ill; “and the factual basis for the fear is irrelevant.”
In other words,
Yippee! We’re all going to be rich.
Well, maybe.
For a start, at the end of the Brockovich movie, Brockovich tells Donna Jensen (in real life, Roberta Walker) that she has “won” $5 million and she excitedly gushes, “I don’t even know how much money that is?” In reality, Walker said, “I didn’t even receive a fraction of that. It made it look like we won, and we really didn’t…”
In fact, the trial lawyers pocketed $133 million and took off on a luxury cruise. Because most cases are grouped with other cases and are settled with a flat fee, “individualized justice is a myth.” One legal writer put it this way, “most plaintiffs (a)re left to puzzle over why they were left empty-handed.”
They don’t happen that fast either. Our longest running chemical trials are against asbestos. Use of asbestos goes back to 4,000 B.C. where the fibers were used for wicks in lamps and candles. But by the 20th century, health problems began to emerge and the first asbestos lawsuit was filed in the 1920s. Unfortunately, no plaintiffs won compensation until 1966. Fifty-six years after that victory, the lawsuits are continuing with no end in sight.
Then there is the question of who should represent you in court? One person posted a review of a law firm, “Do you have any idea what it means to share such personal information just to have NO response. If you were not going to help, just say so. RUDE CRUEL UNPROFESSIONAL.” There are still "legions of lawyers"engaged in PFAS to choose from but it may be difficult to pick the right one.
And finally.
“Do all these lawsuits mean that those products are going to cost more – you know, inflation?”
“Yes.”
“Darn.”
Oh well, there’s always Powerball.