Whocanisue.com seeks plaintiffs aggressively
BOCA RATON (AP) – Have you been bitten by a vicious dog? Been the victim of a surgical mishap? A sexual assault on a cruise ship? There’s a lawyer waiting for your call.
Boca Raton-based whocanisue.com has scores of billboards and bus-shelter signs showing a lawyer slipping on a banana peel. The service matches Web site visitors with lawyers in a quick-and-easy form that takes just minutes to complete.
Choose your complaint from a drop-down menu – nursing home abuse, for example – and then a sub-category, such as bed sores, dehydration or falls and fractures. Plug in your ZIP code and in the click of a mouse, a page or more of lawyers appears.
But there’s controversy over this seemingly quick way to sue for a quick buck.
The site has drawn the ire of many in the legal community, including the vice chairman of a Florida Bar advertising-ethics committee. Critics say whocanisue and other online referral services degrade the legal profession and often steer the public to lawyers who operate under a business model of “bring in as many cases as you can and settle them.” Others, including those who advertise there, say it’s just another way to attract clients.
“I’m getting probably twice as many phone calls,” said Martin Saenz, a Miami labor and employment lawyer who has been advertising on the site for just more than a month. “Of course, not all of them have a case. A lot of time is spent going through cases, but I get clients. Old-school lawyers have to keep up with technology.”