New legal trick: Fake hospital sites for finding clients
* By Roger Parloff Fortune *
Until about noon on Wednesday, dozens of websites were identifying themselves with a Red Cross-ish logo and names like “VA Medical Center Palo Alto,” or “VA Hospital San Francisco,” or “VA Medical Center Gainesville” though they had no affiliation with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. They were actually operated by plaintiffs law firms that were searching for clients with asbestos-related diseases.
The sites were designed in ways that might easily confuse elderly and infirm veterans into falsely believing that the VA itself was recommending that they see certain lawyers if they suffered from asbestos-related illnesses. (Unfortunately, this article is not an April Fool’s joke.)
Many veterans were exposed to asbestos during their service in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Because those dying from an asbestos-related cancer called mesothelioma (nearly 100% fatal) may be entitled to large awards from former asbestos manufacturers or their bankruptcy trusts, contingent-fee lawyers — who are paid a percentage of their clients’ recoveries — have strong financial incentives to find and sign up such clients.
I started making inquiries of the three firms listed as “sponsoring” these sites — including a prominent New York-based pharmaceutical and medical device plaintiffs firm known as Seeger Weiss — on mid-afternoon Tuesday.
Read more at Fortune
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