Motley Paint Crew

Editorial - February 3rd, 2009 - Wall Street Journal

In a 2000 letter to a Texas school, plaintiffs attorneys at Wells, Peyton, Greenberg & Hunt (working alongside Motley Rice predecessor firm Ness Motley) pitched participation in any lead paint lawsuit as a "win-win situation." Even if the administrators weren't sure there was any lead paint in the schools, there must have been some "at one time or another," they wrote.

Using an argument that plaintiffs don't have to prove damage but can merely allege it probably occcured, against defendants who don't have to have done anything wrong but who merely resemble defendants who plaintiffs can allege probably did something wrong ... is the essence of modern law. "Someone who looks like you did something that might have harmed me even though I didn't notice at the time. Since I could have been harmed and it could have been you ... you owe me some money."

In such an environment, the law has become a mockery and a farce. This one example of a lawsuit's failure and some possibility of retribution to its initiators will not slow the deterioration of justice in America.