Today I'm back to taking no prisoners. Sorry but it's one of those days.

For you landlubbers a transom is the backend of a boat.

If you are a passenger and you’re one of the people who dislike the dreaded trial lawyers, call them greedy and scream for tort reform welcome to the world of the Costa Concordia’s cruise ship mumbo-jumbo legal maze. As a passenger of the sinking Good Ship Lollipop you won’t be suing from wherever you live or lived. You won’t even be seeking legal redress on terms you would be if there was a level playing field. Fact of the matter is pursuing your legal claims against the captain and cruise line will be litigated on the listing deck of some venue the cruise ship line chooses. You wanted tort reform in favor of big business, well… you got it. Welcome to their captain's quarters, a world of hot coffee that bites you squarely in the transom.

What happens when world dominators in the business world fear no one?

If you think cowardly captains are something new then visit the Oceanos where a guitarist is forced to take over as the captain because the captain and crew left with their luggage inside one of the lifeboats.

Remember the lawyer guys and gals you wanted to neuter? You know us, the people who represent you, the working stiffs of America; yes, us, the ‘greedy trial lawyers', the same trial lawyers corporate CEO’s hire to sue for personal injury when they get hurt; yes, us lawyers from the USA. We navigate the legal world when you’re injured and no one comes to your rescue.

You remember us, we are trial lawyers, who when you’re out alone drifting in the wide expanse of the legal ocean where the lawyers for the corporate sharks try as hard as they might to capsize your life raft named the U.S.S. Lawsuit; we sail to your rescue while they jump onboard the lifeboats with their Gucci luggage and drift away from screaming babies.

Never forget trial lawyers are the one person who when you need someone is in your corner.

Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Sorry to have to rub it in, but we did warn you this tort reform stuff would come back and bite your transom, but no one wanted to listen to us, they were too busy drinking hot coffee. Remember the McDonald's case. The case where they served coffee so hot that it can and did melt a woman's skin, which by the way then made it inedible. Which by its very nature isn’t food you can eat or drink – which makes it … well, not food? If it were still considered food they could serve you sulfuric acid and you’d have no recourse but to ask for cream and sugar. We are the greedy bastards who tried to save you from yourselves but were shut down by the Bush Administration and all the greedy corporate CEO’s that see only the bottom line – their bottom line.

Pray-tell, who does fund the America Tort Reform Association; and by-the-way why won’t they disclose the identities of the contributors? Hmmm….They are probably just busy spending the profits from people drinking too-hot-too-drink hot coffee.

I’m sorry to rub it in, but I predicted this and more to come. In my 57-years on this planet I've come to realize that people don’t learn until something happens to really scare them into making it personal. And when foolishness takes on an entire population it takes personal injury on a much larger scale to right a listing ship. Until the world experiences several major disasters I forecasted rough seas for trial lawyers attempting to pursue claims for passengers and others who suffer personal injuries. But one or two people getting hurt won't scare anyone into action. There has to be disaster on a much larger scale to really scare the general public into demanding we roll back tort reforms or that juror attitudes change. Attitudes have to change before honesty is restored in the jury system and in turn in America. 

If you’re honest with yourself you’ll admit that your being able to hate us is really a privilege we gave you. Without the trial lawyers having made the world safer juries would not be able to ignore other people being injured. Because we forced a safer world you can feel comfortable you will never be one of the injured who need us.

When things get too safe we have a decaying of attitudes and moral obligation to one another. That's where we've been for at least the past 15 years. The level of moral decay is pretty evident. Juries are downright mean with injured people. And when juries don't seem to care about their fellow man corporate CEO's, and probably ship captains, get a sense of entitlement, laziness and an I don't care attitude. They don't have to care, because there is no one to fear. It is the jury system that keeps a healthy balance of fear in all our lives. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remove that healthy dose of fear to everyone's reality and this is what you get.

Sinking Ships and Vulnerable Passengers

• Oceanos, July 2006 captain and crew pilled luggage into a lifeboat and sailed away from the sinking ship.
• MS Sea Diamond, previously Birka Princess
• Santorini, 2007
• World Discoverer, 2001
• Amazing Ships Sink 1902 to 2011
• Want to see how vulnerable passengers are on the high seas. Horror On The High Seas
• Cruise Ship Dangers Causing Personal Injury and Death
• What would a tsunami do to a large ship?
• Tsunami caught on video by the people who experienced it firsthand, December 24, 2010 Thailand
• Photo Montage of cruise ship mishaps by Crocieristi

What advertising executive came up with the idea to advertise cruise vacations on YouTube video's of sinking ships?

And if you think these corporate CEO’s are not greedy consider that while I’m researching ships that sank Google ads open for Carnival Cruise Deals, Cruise Reviews and Oceania Cruises. I kid you not. Think of the lack of integrity of the person who says, hey let’s advertising for cruise vacations on sites that show video of sinking ships with screaming passengers. Look at the screen to the left of YouTube. See the gray box inside the YouTube black box. Look at the ads. I use two computer screens so ignore the right half screen shot of the lighthouse scene. Focus on the left side screen shot. If the shot is too small hold down the “Ctrl” key and then depress the + sign as many times as it takes to increase the size of the image. I rest my case.

So hey, sign up for a cruise but first watch sinking ship videos because you’ll probably find a better deal. Really you won’t need us. You see we can’t save you from you until tort reforms are set aside. Until that happens we can’t ever save you from misguided captains and crew members. So when you want to file suit for personal injury bring your own life preserver because tort-reformers are ready only to throw you an anchor.

Resources

• The Cruise Passenger’s Rights & Remedies, by Judge Thomas A. Dickerson, 2000
• Cruise Line Injury FAQ’s by McGill Law Firm, Pensacola, Florida
• Cruise Law News, James Walker out of South Miami, Florida
• Cruise Ship Law and the Cruise Ship Law Blog, by Lipcon, Marguiles, Alsina & Winkleman, PA out of Miami, Florida
• Damage Control Central for Costa Concordia
• Cruise Critic,
• Link to the Omaha Ocean on the western edge of Iowa.
• Cruise ship lawsuit waiting room, we serve hot coffee.