Saturday, February 07, 2004

Heroic Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Breast-Exposure Victims

From an article posted at the law firm web site of Wayne A. Ritchie II, the attorney who has filed a federal class action complaint seeking billions of dollars for persons alarmed to have seen Janet Jackson's right breast:

"Instead of a noble and learned profession, imbued with the spirit that produced Jefferson, Madison, and Lincoln, there is an increased tendency to view the practice of law as a business, just another way to make money, a commercial enterprise, in which the emphasis is on the billable hour and the bottom line. In a day in which even a small firm can have an astounding overhead, there is tremendous pressure to bring in fees - to make money."

It's good to know that a few intrepid lawyers are still more interested in representing the downtrodden than in fame or fortune.
Fed. R. Evid. 702: If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.