WSFNC

   A train wreck in Eunice, Louisiana, Crowley’s neighboring city, in which no one was killed and no one injured produced a free windfall for practically every citizen in town.
   After the accident, the railroad company quickly assessed the damages to nearby residential property and farm land in the vicinity and settled with those who believed the company was fair in their assessment. They were told later by a Federal judge that even though they had no lawyers representing them they had to pay 20 percent of their settlement proceeds to the trial lawyers. Such reasoning escapes me but then I am not a lawyer.
  Union Pacific Railroad settled a class action law suit for $65 million dollars. It was their only recourse because crazy run away juries might have awarded billions of dollars in damages and that could have made the company go bankrupt.
  It was reported that over 10,000 people put in claims for damages or possible future unknown injuries. What injuries? No one knows.
  Can you imagine 10,000 people? This almost exceeds the total population of the city.
  One nearby farmer joked that there were more trial lawyers in town hustling money than there were victims.
  Did all of the $65 million go to the victims? No, of course not: only a reported $33 million went to the so called victims.
  I started thinking and trying to figure out where the rest of the money went. I thought, surely the benevolent trial lawyers whose main interest was the health of the poor, misfortunate victims didn’t end up with all that money. But try as I might, I couldn’t account for the missing money any other way. Yep, the trial lawyers got it less expenses.
  Now most of the people in Eunice are honest, hard working people and it amazed me that so many would file such claims. I like to think that character, honesty and a sense of fair play would have played a part in their refusal. And I am sure it did in some cases. But there are obviously more “WSFNC” than I realized.
  I hope it never happens in Crowley because I don’t want to put our people to the test but I would be willing to bet 10,000 of us would not file false, dishonest claims.
If my math is correct, and if the money was evenly divided (and I don’t think it was) each person filing claims would have gotten $3,333.00. We will never know because the lawyers, to my knowledge, didn’t explain the basis upon which they determined who got what.
  Friendships may have determined who got what so I am sure the lucky ones hugged their friendly trial lawyer. When you think back that Judas only got 30 pieces of silver, you have to realize that $33 hundred is a lot of money to turn down and it’s not only the “WSFNC” who took the money with their left hand behind them and ran.
Coincidentally, the Eunice newspaper which carried water for the trial lawyers and free loaders, reported the windfall with a front page story where the editor happily pointed out that the $33 million, using the theory that each dollar changes hands 7 times, would boost the local economy by $231 million.
   On the other side of the horn, companies or insurance companies don’t absorb damages for claims. Ultimately, if they want to stay in business, they have to pass it on to the consumer so that at the end of the day we all pay higher prices for goods or insurance we buy. Over time I suspect that the $33 million will not end up being a wind fall after all.
   Interestingly, a column by Brent Vidrine in the same issue posed the question whether or not money brings happiness. There is a lot of wisdom in that column for one so young. I tend to agree that money doesn’t guarantee happiness.
   Oh yes, “WSFNC” stands for “Want Something for Nothing Crowd.”

   That’s my story and I am sticking to it.

   Milo A. Nickel is the former President and COO of Louisiana State Newspapers.