|
|
"Slow down or I'll sue!"
"The Lawyer sees that he's losing this case. He sees an ambulance go by and chases after it."
Spill some coffee on your lap? Suspect your morbid obesity is someone else's fault? Want a Frivolous Lawsuit and want it now? The Ambulance Chaser is your man!
This opportunistic and morally unscrupulous lawyer can usually be found representing the plaintiff in trumped-up junk lawsuits and perpetrating courtroom antics. He will find the right doctors, extract the right testimony, and badger the right witnesses to make sure you're compensated for whatever it was that may or may not have actually been done to you. That, or harass the defendant until he settles just to be rid of this annoying creature.
This trope is usually played for laughs, as the more corrupt the Ambulance Chaser, the more ridiculous his or her cases will be.
The name originates from the cultural perception that lawyers are Corrupt Corporate Executive-like opportunists who scavenge upon other people's misery and will take on cases regardless of merit for the sake of money. Ergo, when a lawyer sees an ambulance blazing by, he comes to the logical conclusion that someone has been injured, and therefore, requires legal representation as someone should always be responsible for his injury. The Ambulance Chaser shows up when Hilarity Sues. Expect comments of ambulance chasing in a good Evil Lawyer Joke. For the dramatic, competent, defense attorney version, see Amoral Attorney. If the lawsuit is filed by the government (such as the Attorney General's office) against a perceived social evil (tobacco, fast food, etc.), it's the nanny state in action rather than this trope.
Examples
open/close all folders
Film
- The Verdict has Paul Newman as an Ambulance Chaser who discovers he cares.
- In Revenge of the Nerds III, Dudley "Booger" Dawson from the first film is an attorney, and he gets a call from the new-generation Tri-Lambs to help them out of legal trouble. He says he's on his way to meet a client. In fact, he's tailgating an ambulance.
- Deck Shifflet from The Rainmaker qualifies except for one thing: he hasn't managed to pass the bar exam.
- "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich (Walter Matthau) in Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie.
- Roland T. Flakfizer from Brain Donors is a literal Ambulance Chaser — his very first appearance in the film features him chasing an ambulance on foot to the scene of an automobile accident, where he immediately begins to yell about the impending lawsuits he plans to file.
- Joe Adler of the Mike Judge movie Extract is usually thought of as this. Judge apparently based him on a Real Life lawyer.
- In Interstate 60, the protagonist Neal comes across a town called Morlaw while on the titular road, in which all the residents are lawyers and everybody sues everybody. While in a lawyer's office, Neal sees an ambulance driving by, with a HORDE of other lawyers running after it.
- In Rat Race, an attorney was nearby when a man got run over by an ambulance and was ready to make this man into a client. Knowing the attorney's reputation, the driver quickly agreed to give the man a ride.
- The Amoral Attorney in North is introduced in this manner
Literature
- Stanley Hastings from the Stanley Hastings series is a self-described ambulance chaser.
- The werewolf lawyers in Barking by Tom Holt do, in fact, have an instinctive tendency to chase ambulances.
- Mitchell Stephens of The Sweet Hereafter says he knows he comes across as this, but he doesn't care - his real goal is to make lawsuits so costly for corporations that they'll take the time and spend the money on safety, instead of cutting costs and putting other people at risk.
- Anna's lawyer in My Sister's Keeper travels with a service dog, despite the fact that (as everyone he meets is constantly noting) he isn't blind. Unwilling to admit that he suffers from epilepsy, his sarcastic responses to that observation are a running gag in the book. One is, "I'm a lawyer. He chases ambulances for me."
- The Rainmaker by Grisham has examples where lawyers creep around accidents, and hospitals to pick up insurance cases.
Live Action TV
MMORPG
- In Toontown Online, one of the cogs are called Ambulance Chasers. Too bad there aren't any real ambulances in the game.
Western Animation
- Frequently representing the Simpson family until 1998, Lionel Hutz (AKA Miguel Sanchez, AKA Dr. Nguyen Van Phuoc) is an unscrupulous, unqualified failure, and the only lawyer willing to represent Homer in his various trumped-up junk lawsuits (e.g., this exchange from "New Kid On the Block"):
Homer: All you can eat ... Ha!
Hutz: Mr. Simpson, this is the most blatant case of fraudulent advertising since my suit against the film The Neverending Story.
Homer: So, do you think I have a case?
Hutz: I don't use the word "hero" very often, but you ... are the greatest hero ... in American history.
- In his first appearance, during his meeting with the Simpsons in his office, he hears an ambulance go by and starts to leave, before suppressing the urge and resuming his talk with Homer.
- In the episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car", Homer saw Hutz been chasing the ambulance Bart was taken away in.
- All of the above notwithstanding, Hutz was also capable of grabbing the Smart Ball whenever an episode's plot required it. In New Kid On The Block, Hutz won the lawsuit Homer filed against the Frying Dutchman restaurant, in part by being lucky enough to have a jury full of fat people and in part by putting Marge on the stand and pointing out that the lengths they went to to find another all-you-can eat fish restaurant were not those of a man who'd had "all he could eat." In Flaming Moe's, Homer tries to sue Moe for stealing a drink recipe that Moe stole from him, but Hutz Did Do The Research in this episode and points out that you can't copyright a drink:
Lionel Hutz: Hey, how about that? I just looked something up! Those books behind me just don't make the office look good, they're full of interesting legal tidbits just like this!!!
- Hutz doesn't seem to understand conflict of interest either. He agreed to represent people in a lawsuit against the producers of a local version of A Streetcar Named Desire for not having roles despite Hutz himself having a role.
- Stan Freezoid in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, who casually hands out his cards to people who slip on the trail of ice he leaves behind.
- In Disney's Hercules, one of the townspeople dismiss Hercules as "just another chariot chaser."
- In Sylvester And Tweety Mysteries, there was an episode featuring a Swedish lawyer named Pjerry Nelson, who was voted as most likely to become an ambulance chaser.
- There is Joe Addler from Beavis And Butthead, who has ads on TV about lawsuits concerning whiplash damage, and taking on frivolous sexual harrasment cases. In one episode, when asked if he had ever been jailed for contempt of court, he answers that "he believes that was among the charges, yes."
- There is in fact a lawyer in texas called Jim Adler who has advertisements on television, make of this what you will.
- In one episode of Rugrats, Angelica sues her father note It turns out to be a nightmare her father is having, however.. At one point, she fires her lawyer, sending him off with:
Angelica: It's back to chasing ambulances for you.
- In an episode of Beetlejuice in which the title character is shown a world where he didn't exist (a parody of It's a Wonderful Life) the Monster Across the Street has become this type of lawyer.
Video Games
- "Legal" Lee from the video game Saints Row acts like this, and his forte is insurance fraud. And he does, in fact, drive an ambulance.
- Despite the games actually averting this through the thematics of the cases, at least one witness attempted to insult Phoenix Wright by calling him this. It worked. And the witness went DOOOOWN.
- In Grand Theft Auto Vice City, Ken Rosenberg is often referred to as being one of these. Not that he doesn't come in handy whenever you get arrested.
- One U-Drive It mission in SimCity 4 has you driving an accident victim to an unscrupulous lawyer's office instead of straight to the hospital, so they can prepare a lawsuit.
Web Comics
- Schlock Mercenary has the partnership collective, a hivemind of lawyer snakes. After a certain story arc, the protagonists are tasked with and paid for "administering punitive damages" against the collective for damage the Collective caused in a revenge plan against Tagon's Toughs. Mainly done by blowing up attorneys and their property. At a point in the comic, they take on to patrolling coffee shops, ambulance companies and divorce courts because of just losing their ship and being broke.
- In the anthropomorphic world of Kevin & Kell, the vast majority of lawyers are sharks. And they will take "an arm and a leg".
- In a sequence from Wapsi Square starting more or less here
 , Bud the indestructible golem girl has a slight accident with the sidewalk. When she discovers that the hunk who comes to her assistance is actually an ambulance-chasing lawyer she decides to give him his comeuppance.
Real Life
- In real life, in the United States, lawyers are not allowed to ambulance-chase, in the sense of soliciting business at the scene of an accident or even too-soon thereafter. This is known as "barratry" (one of four legal definitions of the term, actually). State Bars have very strict rules governing how a lawyer can approach potential clients, rules you can be grieved to the Bar for violating. If a lawyer does do something like this, he will not do it in public. Within living memory, lawyers were not even allowed to advertise their services; it was considered just too vulgar for the legal profession. There are other rules, violations also grievable, against ambulance-chasing in the sense of stirring up frivolous litigation. (By the way, another sense of "barratry" is persistently inciting others to engage in litigation, OR in quarrels or disputes OUTSIDE the courts.)
- Anti-violence activist and ex-attorney Jack Thompson is infamous for this sort of behavior (among other things). If there's a controversy about the supposed evil of some video games, he'll be there to take the case (or comment on it). Eventually, the judges in Florida wised up to how much of a mockery he made of the legal process, and stripped him of his license. And there was much rejoicing (yay).
- Who has not been in a car wreck — no matter how minor, but one where the cops are called — and then gotten inundated with emails and phone calls from attorneys offering to help you settle for what you "deserve"?
- As an attorney I can tell you that in many states this kind of behavior might violate the Bar Associations ethics rules. In person solicitation of clients known to have a potential claim is generally not allowed (exceptions exist for close friends, family members etc.) If you're actively injured (still in a cast, undergoing treatment etc) and you get a call from a lawyer, consider filing a bar complaint.
- As another attorney I can tell you, the above is true with regard to soliciting clients for personal-injury suits; but, if you were charged with any crime or misdemeanor in the accident, it is perfectly all right for the criminal-defense firms, who routinely monitor the daily arrest reports, to flood your mailbox with letters. After all, the criminal-defense lawyer's not trying to stir up any case — the case is already there if you have been charged, they're just offering to help you with it.
- The civil lawyers generally take the reverse approach, advertising loudly on billboards and late-night television for anyone who was recently injured by an accident and/or medical malpractice. In large cities, they tend to occupy about a third to half of the available advertising space inside public transit - subway cars, buses, taxis, etc.
- Traffic citations and accident reports are also monitored by any number of people hoping to score a buck — very often, it's not lawyers who are calling, but some vaguely named institution that wants to talk to you about what happened. Lawyers aren't immune from this kind of solicitation.
- All of those No-Win-No-Fee adverts that seem to have sprung up in the past few years. "If you've had an accident in the past that wasn't your fault, call xxxxxxx now!"
- The UK version is an agency who phones people based on the road accident bureau passing on details of people who have had recent traffic accidents.
- This has spread to the US and is probably the cause of most calls. The problem is that the pestering isn't being done by lawyers but unrelated parties monitoring accident reports.
- Former Senator John Edwards used to be a lawyer and his reputation is basically this trope crossed with Sleazy Politician. Or as Amy Poehler "fondly" summarized him on Saturday Night Live, "And you, John Edwards, you phony, two-faced, ambulance-chasing little rat bastard."
- Gloria Allred, who is infamous for taking cases merely for publicity, rather than a desire to see justice done. She tends to focus more on holding press conferences than courtroom arguments. Judging by her Self-Deprecating cameo in Rat Race, she's quite aware of this reputation, and relishes in it.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: Some lawyers air local adverts with the all-too-common "I don't get paid unless you get paid" claim. They may not be a credit to the profession, but there's a market for a reason. Filing for Social Security benefits (particularly disability), dealing with Medicare, foreclosure, etc. — these are exactly the kind of matters in which the average person will find themselves quickly out of their league. (Even attorneys experienced in one area of law may require assistance with a Social Security application.) The agreement is that after the lawyer successfully performs a service, he or she receives payment out of your benefit, since it's assumed you can't pay at the time. It's not an ideal solution, but unless you can cough up 250 USD or more just for an initial consultation with a lawyer, this kind of deal may be your only option. (Accountants don't file your taxes free of charge, in a similar fee-for-service model.) This is not the same thing as being an Ambulance Chaser, although there are times when there's overlap — it depends on the attorney in question.
- There's definitely an overlap when the lawyer says that *he or she* doesn't get paid - but the thousands of dollars you need to pay doctors, experts, and other people who want payment for their services up front to help prepare your evidence (disbursements) still have to get paid before you see the inside of a courtroom. Also, many insurance companies will pay several tens of thousands of dollars in a claim just to make you go away - which counts as a win, and which the lawyer takes his cut from. His fees will be in the tens of thousands.
- Orly Taitz has lost to an empty chair. Shine on, you crazy diamond.
- While the phrase itself refers to a practice that's outdated, it's common to hear one lawyer refer to another as an "Ambulance Chaser" — it's slightly politer than "slimeball." Actual lawyers tend to hate these people even more than the average citizen, in the same way many doctors distrust homeopaths or other "quacks."
- There's also the Stop Being Stereotypical element: personal-injury and malpractice lawyers are probably the most visible attorneys—at least in America—after criminal prosecution and defense, and the bad eggs of this branch of law contribute substantially to the profession's reputation as evil/slimy, since they work so much with ordinary citizens.
|
|
