Movies, Reality, and Lawsuit Funding

Mar 12, 2010

Who doesn’t enjoy a good movie now and again? Most of us do enjoy sitting down and watching a good movie, and screenwriters and directors make sure that we’re able to watch the type of movies that we want, by creating a veritable plethora of different types of movies. One type of movie that is often very popular is the criminal movie. You know the one – where someone seemingly does something wrong and then winds up in court, only for you to discover that it was someone else who did something wrong? There are plenty of different types of dramas that feature court, but one movie pops out when you’re talking about injury lawsuits: Erin Brockovich.
 
Erin Brockovich is a movie that focuses on the main character, Erin, and how she, and the law firm of Masry and Vititoe, helped the residents of Hinkley, California, to win the largest class action lawsuit at that time against PG&E. While the story of how Brockovich and Masry helped the residents is true, there are a few things that most people do not realize.
To begin with, the movie is about two and a half hours long. This makes it seem like it was a short time between when Brockovich began her search for answers for the Hinkley people and between when the settlement was offered. In reality, however, it was four years between when Brockovich began and when a settlement was reached. This is a very long amount of time to wait to get paid. Another fact is that many of the people had to wait upwards of six months or more to get the money that they were promised from the company.

Reality

In reality, lawsuits can take a very long amount of time, even if you are just bringing a lawsuit against a small company or against a single person. Defense attorneys are trained to slow things down, and they do so amazingly well, which is one thing that can slow down your lawsuit. And something else to remember is that even though the judge or jury says that the company or person has to pay, doesn’t mean that they’re going to do it immediately.
One way that you can get the money that you may need in a much faster manner is to look to lawsuit funding. Lawsuit funding is not a loan, because it does not have to be paid back directly out of your pocket. It allows you to have money in your bank account while your case is pending or being discussed between your lawyer and the defense attorney. And if you’re approved for lawsuit funding, you will not be required to pay back anything if your lawyer loses your case.
Movies make many things seem much more glamorous than they truly are. There is nothing glamorous about a lawsuit. But thanks to things like lawsuit funding, they don’t have to be financially stressful either.