
108 iThe
Ten
Roads
to
Riches
know exactly what we are and
aren't-
so their views
of
us couldn't
possibly be
hurt
by these silly claims.
Pretty
much all California firms have these once they hit a cer-
tain size. It's just a cost
of
business in some states (see
Chapter
8).
The
PL
doesn't want to go to
court-just
the booty. It's cheaper to
settle than fight . Fighting wins nothing. It's great and easy
PL
booty
with scant work.
There's
a whole industry doing
this-your
industry
on this road . You can
hit
a group of employees at a firm
once-then
you need a different employee group.
The
key is figuring
out
which
firm has just become big enough to
merit
going after.
It
happens at
about 500 employees. It's like finding an undefended treasure ship
at sea.
Just
be there first and do it before
another
pirate finds it.
TARGET
PRACTICE
Beyond socially sympathetic clients (workers, kids), you want a cor-
porate target
that
can pay and wants to settle early before you work
much. Big business is easy to demonize.
Phar
ma
Pharmaceutical firms are great targets.
The
big ones are
massive-
huge market caps, hence big settlements. And big profits make
them
unsympathetic to
our
society. Pharma is a perfect marriage
of sympathetic clients,
comp
licated, technical subjects, and easy-to-
villainize targets. Recall Merck's Vioxx hoopla? Vioxx is a
COX-2
inhibitor (complicated), intended as a pain reliever for folks with
osteoarthritis and sensitive stomachs
-meant
to be taken for ...