Basic Trope: A personal-injury lawyer, who will exaggerate any injuries the plaintiff has suffered, or help them file a Frivolous Lawsuit, in order to make money.
- Straight: A clumsy waiter accidentally spills soup on Alice while she's dining out at Chez Snob. Although Alice is uninjured, or has suffered only very minor injuries at best, she threatens to sue the waiter, the manager, or the restaurant for the soup incident. Bob, her lawyer, overhears her and offers his assistance. He helps her get several million dollars for (made-up) injuries, and for "emotional pain and suffering."
- Exaggerated:
- Alice breaks a nail on Carol's property, and Bob helps her file a lawsuit against Carol.
- Bob helps Alice file a criminal suit against the restaurant... never mind that he's not a criminal lawyer.
- Downplayed: Alice consults an attorney, but doesn't actually file a suit.
- Justified: Bob takes on personal injury law, but doesn't get as many clients as you'd think. So he markets himself to the kind of people who'd sue at the drop of a hat.
- Inverted: Bob is a Crusading Lawyer who specializes on defending his clients from frivolous litigations. When Chez Snob is sued by Alice, he comes to the restaurant's defense and exaggerates their usual competence and success, resulting in Alice having to pay a fine that costs less than even the soup. Bob didn't want the money anyway.
- Subverted:
- Although it sounds at first glance like a frivolous case, Alice really did suffer severe scalds from the soup spill.
- Alice goes to Bob seeking to file a complaint, and after Bob does some research on the merits of the case, decides to decline because he's not going to risk eating the cost of an unsuccessful claim plus whatever fines may be levied against him if the court decides to go after him for bringing a frivolous claim.
- Double Subverted:
- Bob makes it seem like she was more injured than she really was, and helps Alice get more money than she was originally going to ask for.
- Bob changes his mind and decides to take the case anyways despite knowing that it's garbage. He loses the case and is hit with sanctions for accepting a frivolous claim.
- Implied: Bob regularly advertises his civil liability firm on daytime television and operates out of a small office in a rundown office complex that, aside from Bob, has few longtime tenants and a revolving door of vacancies.
- Parodied:
- An Ambulance Cut happens. Bob is chasing the ambulance. Along with every lawyer in town!
- Bob offers his services at a funeral parlor, to family members who are trying to grieve.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Alice does not sue the restaurant or anyone affiliated with it for the soup incident. She may or may not choose to settle out of court.
- Enforced: One of the writers used to work as a paralegal for a firm that did a lot of outsourced insurance defense cases and had to deal with more than a few sleazy civil litigation attorneys trying to shake down policyholders for money.
- Lampshaded: "Injured? Call the Law Offices of Cloke, Daggar and Sphy today!"
- Invoked: Alice gets soup spilled on her. She suffers minor injuries, and her new dress is ruined. She plans to sue for the cost of medical treatment and dry-cleaning. Meanwhile, at the next table, Bob, a personal-injury lawyer, overhears her predicament and uses the opportunity to gain some business.
- Exploited:
- Bob appeals to Alice's desire for money.
- Bob takes on personal-injury law, and markets himself to the kind of people who sue over everything, because he's fallen on hard times.
- Implied: A judge is seen ripping into Bob over their conduct and the substance of their claim, with a tone that suggests that this is not the first time that the judge has had to deal with this sort of thing from Bob.
- Defied:
- Alice turns down Bob's offer.
- Bob doesn't bother Alice.
- The manager of Chez Snob points out to Bob that what he's doing is illegal (this is Truth in Television, especially in Europe), which makes him back down immediately. He may offer Alice compensation (such as a free meal, help pay for the dry cleaning and maybe fire the waiter) as well alongside his apology.
- Discussed: "Bob just got his license to practice law suspended for six months. Guess they got really sick of him accepting frivolous cases that he thought he could turn into smash-and-grab settlements."
- Conversed: "Bob finally got suspended for five years." "Took long enough. What pushed him over the top?" "He was representing a client in a wrongful termination claim and it was just a complete bullshit case - it was so obvious that the plaintiff did not have a valid claim and that Bob had probably taken it thinking he could get it settled. Wasn't going well for him in court, judge was already pissed at him, and then Bob repeatedly tried to plant suggestions of judicial corruption in court by insinuating that the judge had major financial interests in the defendant. Judge was furious and he got sanctioned and the judge entered summary judgment for the defense, so what does he do? He went on this local diet Alex Jones radio show as a guest and started spewing some Pizzagate shit about a supposed pedo conspiracy in the local judicial system and mentioned the judge by name. That was it for him." "YIKES. Actually, I'm not at all surprised, that's totally something Bob would do, but still. Good riddance, he's a dirtbag and has had it coming for a long time."
- Deconstructed: Bob gets penalized with fines, verbal reprimands, and/or disbarment for willingly accepting worthless cases just to make money.
- Reconstructed: Bob becomes the only lawyer willing to step up to bat when Charlene tries to sue Awful, Inc. for a criminal misdeed they pulled on her but that the Court of Public Opinion has already labeled a frivolous case. Maybe Bob will win, maybe Bob will lose, but if not for his actions this injustice would just be swept under the rug.
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