Rating: 
Summary: Truth Isn't Always Stranger Than Fiction
Review: I first heard of this book when the author appeared on "Crier Today" on Court TV; an engaging speaker, but his pithy description of one case covered in the book indicated that his accounts of lawsuits might not be quite accurate in all instances. A humorously recounted tale of a stuporously drunk man trespassing onto rail tracks and electrocuting himself, followed by a lawsuit and a $3 million verdict might give rise to a sense of outrage about a legal system gone wrong. A review of the decision by the Illinois Supreme Court in _Lee v. Chicago Transit Authority,_ 152 Ill.2d 432, 605 N.E.2d 493 (1992) (in which it is clearly stated that the jury acknowledged Mr. Lee's own degree of fault, and reduced the verdict by 50%) might lead to a different conclusion. The verdict was based upon dull things like the CTA's knowledge that the third rail was at street-level, accidents had occurred in the past, and a not-at-all frivolous or terribly innovative application of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. Those who want a relatively succinct account of how the _Lee_ case was used (after appropriate distortion of the underlying facts) to rally support for tort reform in Illinois, please see: Stephanie B. Goldberg, "Tough Times for Victims? Tort Reform Is Supposed to End Outrageous Lawsuits, But Its Impact May Be Far Greater Than That," Chicago _TRIBUNE,_ July 30, 1995 (Sunday Magazine). If you want a quick, undemanding and entertaining read, you might enjoy this book. But don't rely upon it as a reliable citation for what really happened in the courtroom. Frivolous lawsuits are brought every day -- but based upon Percelay's and Deutchman's treatment of the Lee case, they're not always terribly careful about their research. That might be too much to demand from a book such as this.
Rating: 
Summary: The PERFECT Christmas gift!!
Review: I thought the book was great! It pokes fun of one of the most hated professions and systems in the world, but not in the traditional humor found in a 2nd grade classroom. The book was well researched and presented in an a engaging, intelligent and well-written manner. For Christams, I'm buying a copy for every lawyer I know! Well done, Mr. Percelay!
Rating:
Summary: Corporate Propaganda & Lies
Review: Such utter BS. These folks have been circulating this trash for years. This is just the efforts of big corporations to scare you into giving up your right to jury trial-- the only defense you have against them The truth is that the corporations these people front for are clogging the courts with dumb lawsuits, not the poor injured people who the courts were designed for. Don't buy this book. Toss your money in the street instead. Google 'Dumb Corporate Lawsuits' for the real deal on this issue.
Rating:
Summary: The only funny thing about this book is that I bought it.
Review: The author attempts to tell hilarious stories of exceptionally frivolous lawsuits brought in various Courts. I'm certain the stories themselves would in fact have been funny if the author knew how to write humor. This is Percelay's attempt at humor as he writes about the verdict of a case involving a Little League game: THE VERDICT, Please.... The judge felt that this case didn't deserve to get to second base........An appeals court agreed that the judge's ruling was SAFE. (emphasis the author's). This and other un-funny embellishments of otherwise funny stories is about the level of humor that this book offers. Also completely non-hilarious are the scattered jokes about lawyers; I admit to laughing at only one. And trust me, I usually find lawyers' jokes funny. I cannot begin to imagine what anyone found funny in this supposed humor book. The joke is on me for having spent the money to buy it. My next humor book is going to be something by Dave Barry, where I am quite certain I can get what I originally wanted from this book: a hearty laugh. Don't buy this book, I beg you.
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Summary: Whiplash Injuries are a Major Public Health Problem
Review: This book offers some examples of a legal system that often appears to be out of control. But to use "Whiplash" in the book's title does a great disservice to the 3 million Americans injured in rear-impact collisions every year with whiplash and WAD, or whiplash-associated disorders (as defined by the Quebec Task Force). Medicine and engineering agree that whiplash injuries are all too real. Without even opening the cover of this book, cynical readers may dismiss reality and have their skeptical outlook regarding whiplash injuries confirmed; i.e., whiplash is not real and that those wearing a cervical collar are faking it. After all, that type of reader certainly has a reliable source of scientific information--he's seen it on TV! This is a book that would have us believe that TV is "reality". Nothing could be further from the truth. The overwhelming number of medical and engineering research studies found in hospital libraries across the United States all agree: whiplash injuries are real, and cost us billions of dollars a year in medical bills, lawsuits and lost time from work. The injuries are very real, and represent one of the top public health problems in the U.S. today. Books like this perpetuate the myth and stigma surrounding these injuries, and that probably keeps the automobile insurers very happy. They, too, would like us to believe that these injuries are not real. The most recent crash tests have shown the injury threshold in whiplash to be as low as 2.5 mph (delta V, or the speed change of the struck vehicle), while most studies after 1990 showed it to be as low as 5.0 mph (Brault JR, Wheeler JB, Siegmund GP, Brault EJ: Clinical response of human subjects to rear-end automobile collisions. Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation 79:72-80, 1998; van den Kroonenberg A, Philippens H, Cappon J, Wismans J, Hell W, Langweider K: Human head-neck response during low-speed rear end impacts. Proceedings of the 42nd Stapp Car Crash Conference, SAE 983157, 207-221, 1998; Ono K, Kaneoka K, Wittek A, Kajzer J: Cervical injury mechanism based on the analysis of human cervical vertebral motion and head-neck-torso kinematics during low speed rear impacts. 41st Stapp Car Crash Conference Proceedings. SAE paper 973340, 339-356, 1997). In either case, the injury threshold for occupants is surprisingly low. Most injuries (78%) in rear-impact collisions occur at speeds below 12 mph, with 60% occurring between 6-12 mph (Croft AC: Biomechanics. In Foreman SM, Croft AC (eds), second edition, Whiplash Injuries: the Cervical Acceleration/Deceleration Syndrome, Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins, 1995). And that means that 78% of whiplash injuries happen WITHOUT damage to vehicles. Surprised? You'd better start reading some REAL scientific data. Vehicle damage thresholds average between 8-12 mph delta V and higher. Serious injury is not correlated with vehicle damage, and almost every study confirms this. An interesting study of low-speed crashes by Foret-Bruno (Foret-Bruno JY, Dauvilliers F, Tarriere C: Influence of the seat and head rest stiffness on the risk of cervical injuries. 13th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles. S-8-W-19, 968-974, 1991)and colleagues shows that at speeds below 9.3 mph, the liklihood of injury is GREATER than at speeds greater than 9.3 mph, up to a point (at speeds over 20 mph the liklihood is greater for injury again). This study reflects the BIG SECRET that even most plaintiff attorneys (the guys supposedly helping whiplash victims) do not understand, and that is the difference between a plastic and an elastic collision. Pardon the physics, it's also too real. If the struck car gets crushed, the energy of the collision is absorbed somewhat, and the struck car doesn't get pushed forward with as great a force. But if the struck car does not get crushed (at speeds below 8-12 mph, for example), then the energy of collision goes into moving the struck car forward very rapidly, and the OCCUPANTS of that vehicle "absorb" the energy of the collision. And that means the risk of injury is MUCH HIGHER. Chronic pain is the greatest reason for disability, and this disability has been shown to be completely unrelated to being involved in litigation (Jones MD: Cineradiographic studies of the normal cervical spine. Calif Med 93:293-296, 1960; Croft AC: The case against litigation neurosis in mild brain injuries and cervical acceleration/deceleration trauma. JNMS 1(4):149-155, 1993; Parmar HV, Raymakers R: Neck injuries from rear impact road traffic accidents: prognosis in persons seeking compensation. Injury 24(2):75-78, 1993). Some authors have tried to claim that whiplash is just "illness behavior", malingering, or just part of our "whiplash culture". However, the vast majority of scientists, doctors and engineers disagree. The real science has documented several real injuries associated with chronic pain and disability, such as spinal ligamentous instability, mild traumatic brain injury, temporomandibular joint injury, chronic headache and low back pain, to name a few. Whiplash injuries are all too real, and it is unfortunate that a book like this tries to capitalize on the misfortune and gross misunderstanding of others. SERIOUS INJURY OFTEN OCCURS at low speeds with NO damage to vehicles, and it is time for insurance companies and their agents (is James Percelay one?) to start telling the truth! Percelay and Deutchman take the academically Drosophilaean (read: fruit-fly-sized) view of whiplash, a cliche, and try to make a point. Since they do not READ enough themselves, we get the TV-level of reality. Way to go guys! You've just perpetuated another BIG LIE and made the fat cats fatter!
Rating: 
Summary: Even A Lawyer Can Enjoy This!
Review: This book proves that truth is stranger than fiction. Some of this stuff just couldn't be invented. The authors have done an incredible job coming up with examples of bizarre legal claims, almost all of which apparently were either ultimately dismissed or dropped, I might add. I guess our legal system is working just fine, though I doubt that was the point of the book.
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Summary: So sue me!
Review: This is a hilarious book! These true lawsuits are sick enough to make you cry! A perfect "gag" gift (pun intended) and should be given to every damn law student (and lawyer) in America... maybe after reading it, they'll become podiatrists!
Rating:
Summary: So sue me!
Review: This is a hilarious book! These true lawsuits are sick enough to make you cry! A perfect "gag" gift (pun intended) and should be given to every damn law student (and lawyer) in America... maybe after reading it, they'll become podiatrists!
Rating:
Summary: Truth Isn't Always Stranger Than Fiction
Review: This is my new favorite humor book! These cases are a riot and are written up in a way that should shame anyone from suing for their own dumb mistakes. -- This book should be required reading at lawschools! The section on how to create your own lawsuit is a scream. Hmmm...this might make a great TV series.
Rating:
Summary: Funnier than "America's Dumbest Criminals."
Review: This is my new favorite humor book! These cases are a riot and are written up in a way that should shame anyone from suing for their own dumb mistakes. -- This book should be required reading at lawschools! The section on how to create your own lawsuit is a scream. Hmmm...this might make a great TV series.
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