The Ten Roads to Riches: The Ways the Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!)

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 ...