October 18, 2007

Ambulance Chasers Have A New Home, SueEasy

Nick Gonzalez

29 comments »

Have you or a loved one been injured in a car accident? Suing TechCrunch? To answer these questions, soon-to-launch SueEasy.com is hoping you turn to them before the white pages, FindLaw, or ratings sites like Avvo. They’re currently in a private beta, tweaking the service.

The site is kind of a reverse directory for lawyers that’s sure to be a haven for personal injury lawsuits. It’s similar in concept to what ThemBid is doing with auctions for local services. Instead of searching for a lawyer, you list your case and lawyers find you. The site handles two major kinds of cases, class action and individual. Each of those sections is then divided into sub-categories such as DUI/DWI, bankruptcy, or asbestos settlements. Plaintiffs list their grievances in these categories and attach any relevant documentation.

Licensed lawyers, and only lawyers, can log on and review the listings, hunting for attractive cases. Anyone can join a class action lawsuit, though. Lawyers bid to contact potential clients with the highest bidder winning and Sue Easy getting the money. However, that doesn’t mean you have to accept the counsel after reviewing their profile and reviews. You can always pass and move on to another lawyer.

But I’m not so sure if taking the highest bidder is the best system. It cuts down on consumer’s selection to one at a time. I imagine there will be cases where a close second to the highest bidder may serve a clients needs better but is closed off from contact.

Sue Easy was a TechCrunch 40 semi-finalist and is currently taking private beta testers.

Sphere It

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Trackbacks/Pings (Trackback URL)

SueEasy Goes Live - Your Class Action Lawsuit Lottery Ticket

April 12th, 2008 at 3:22 pm

ClassActionBlawg.com

April 14th, 2008 at 11:25 pm

DUI Lawyer Hennepin County MN

April 17th, 2008 at 11:52 pm

Comments

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FakeMA

October 18th, 2007 at 12:25 pm

Ok if they sue others who is going to sue them?
dan

October 18th, 2007 at 1:20 pm

I run an Internet Marketing Company specializing in promoting law firms, and I fail to see how this is an even remotely interesting story. There are loads and loads of legal directories, legal referral sites (what you’re calling a reverse directory), and every other shade of legal lead generation site under the sun.

I also don’t understand the title of this piece. Ambulance Chasing (the popular name for barratry) is one of the very few things that can get a lawyer disbarred. It is a very serious issue. The nature of a referral site is that the potential client is making the first move toward contact, so it is hard to consider this as ambulance chasing. As I understand it, though, different states have different standards, and a few states might have problems with this type of site.
Jincey

October 18th, 2007 at 1:34 pm

The name of this website alone will cause problems in some states. According to the code of ethics in many states, lawyers have to follow strict standards when joining referral services. Names like “Sue Easy” will probably prove to be offensive to many authorities governing attorneys. I would not be surpised if there is some court activity surronding lawyers using this as a referral service.
Markus

October 18th, 2007 at 1:36 pm

What an awesome pornstar/web 2.0 name. It’s up there with prophylactic (sp?) dot com or whatever it is.

Coming soon to Vivid: “Techcrotch Desires” Starring Sue Easy
Uhhh..

October 18th, 2007 at 2:04 pm

That’s the fucking ugliest logo ever.
Uhhh..

October 18th, 2007 at 2:05 pm

Check that, ugliest site ever.

Hire some designers, for the love of Neilsen..
steveballme

October 18th, 2007 at 2:10 pm

What do you call 5,000 lawyers locked in a hay filled barn on fire?

a winnie roast. lol

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Sara Underwood

October 18th, 2007 at 2:20 pm

@Markus the difference between the lawyers and adult industry: people endlessly complain about both publicly, but privately most people enjoy porn.
Negative Marketing

October 18th, 2007 at 2:29 pm

I love this site - a grate place to initiate mudslinging campaign and add to it effect of snowball.
Joe

October 18th, 2007 at 2:53 pm

The domain name sueeasy.com is terrible — they need a name like SueForDamages.com, which I just happen to own and will sell for a measly $150K.
phenom

October 18th, 2007 at 3:19 pm

damn the site is ugly….

http://vidsonly.blogspot.com
Adam Metz

October 18th, 2007 at 3:35 pm

I think W. Axl Rose put it best: “It’s sue easy, when everybody’s tryin’ to please me baby.”
Steve McMurray

October 18th, 2007 at 5:36 pm

I will cry myself to sleep tonight…
Jorge

October 18th, 2007 at 10:16 pm

@ Jincey

To further Jincey’s point, in almost all states, but especially in Cali, Ohio, and New York, this service violates the ethical standards of the respective state bar associations.

Lawyers CANNOT BID OR OFFER MONEY FOR REFERRALS. This will get a lawyer disbarred. In many states, including the three listed above, it may also result in criminal charges.

Note, however, lawyers can trade clients, or make referrals without financial compensation.
Jorge

October 18th, 2007 at 10:19 pm

@ Me

To follow up on my own post: the reason that lawyers cannot bid for clients in this manner is that it induces financial incentives above and beyond the standard attorney fee, AND it reduces the ability of the “client” to choose his own lawyer.

It is irrelevant in this regard that the clients voluntarily sign up for this service, because lawyer referral services cannot charge money to match clients with prospective attorneys, nor can they base matches on payments made to them by the attorneys.
Doug

October 18th, 2007 at 10:48 pm

It would do you good to do some research before making random comments. - “Lawyers may respond to an invitation to bid on legal projects through an internet website”

http://www.legalethics.com/?p=81
Rainmaker

October 19th, 2007 at 2:23 am

ROFL @ phenom’s comment!! Check this eyesore: http://vidsonly.blogspot.com

Whats that about the The pot calling the kettle black?? Hilarious!
john

October 19th, 2007 at 5:59 am

wow..how did that make it as a semi-finalist at techcrunch40?

that logo looks like its from the early 90’s… horrendous…. and the site itself isn’t far behind.
KUTO

October 19th, 2007 at 8:07 am

It is irrelevant in this regard that the clients voluntarily sign up for this service
KUTO

October 19th, 2007 at 8:08 am

I will cry myself to sleep tonight…
Jay

October 19th, 2007 at 1:46 pm

wtf - this was a TechCrunch semi-finalist? Web 2.0 user generated lawsuits with ugly graphics.
Tim Burkin

October 19th, 2007 at 3:49 pm

This looks more like what DoMyStuff.com did for services only with a really ugly design. I guess thats why they compared it to thembid =]
TortSpecialist

October 19th, 2007 at 5:23 pm

One is left wondering.. whether the haters are actually losers who weren’t selected for TechCrunch 40?
TortSpecialist

October 19th, 2007 at 5:25 pm

Personally.. i think SueEasy sounds a 100 times better than the 20,000 Facebook, Myspace and Youtube clones.. someone should put a stop to that madness!!
Melanie Spencer

October 20th, 2007 at 8:16 pm

Kudos! What a brilliant and refreshing concept. It SHOULD be easier to sue.
Brett

October 22nd, 2007 at 8:47 am

Is it 1998? My eyes have gone low res GIF crazy. Is there a special award at Techcrunch40 for having the balls to use frontpage? They were semi-finalists? Begs the question, WTF??!!