Uber a target of car crash lawsuits pushes for law to limit California lawyer fees

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The long-simmering fight between some of L.A.’s best-known billboard attorneys and Uber, one of their most frequent targets, is poised to spill out of the courtroom and onto the November ballot.The ride-share giant is gathering signatures for an initiative that, if passed by voters, would cap how much attorneys can earn in vehicle collision cases.The company pledges the change will give victims a larger cut of their settlement money, alleging predatory attorneys are inflating medical bills to increase their own profits.Lawyers claim it will decimate their lucrative niche — car crash lawsuits in the automobile haven that is California — and ultimately leave thousands of people with small or challenging cases unable to sue because they can’t find an attorney.

This fight, lawyers say, is existential.Attorneys from Sweet James and Jacoby & Meyers — the names and faces of which will be imprinted in the minds of most California drivers — have given almost $1 million to a committee opposing the ballot measure, according to campaign filings.

Dozens of other deep-pocketed attorneys have joined, raising an impressive war chest already surpassing $46 million.“Uber knows darn well what they’ve done,” said Nicholas Rowley, among those leading the opposition.“This law is designed to wipe out ordinary working people’s ability to get representation.”Attorneys have condemned the fee cap as a Trojan horse meant to trick voters into wrecking the delicate math behind personal injury lawsuits.

Currently, personal injury attorneys typically take 33% to 40% of a client’s payout.That is enough, they say, for them to earn a living and risk taking cases on a contingency fee basis — meaning, if they lose, they don’t get paid.Uber’s proposal would cap attorney fees for car crash cases at 25% and require extra costs — filing fees, depositions, experts — to be calcul...