Ambulance Chasers Dig Through Databases

from the virtual-ambulance-chasing dept

Mon, Mar 29th 2004 1:45am — Mike Masnick

Why chase ambulances, when the ambulances come to you online? It turns out that ambulance chasing lawyers have found a much more effective method of going after clients: they have local sheriffs email them a daily list of who's been arrested - including their home addresses. Some services even promise to send out letters based on the list within hours of receiving it. People who are arrested are likely to find a stack of letters from lawyers wanting their business - often targeted directly to their alleged crime - within days. In one case described in the article, lawyers were informed (and had mailed out solicitations) two days before a young man's parents were notified he'd been arrested. Of course, the information on arrest records are public, but some are wondering if the direct mailing of such info to lawyers really makes sense. The lawyers, of course, respond that they're only trying to get those arrested the best possible help.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

2 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

prarie dog, 29 Mar 2004 @ 7:22am

Whats next
I get in a car wreck and my GM Onstar system comes on, not with the voice of an Onstar rep trying to help me but a lawyer asking who I want to sue, these lawyers are scum and the cops who help them are no better. I like cops but this is crap.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Kathy, 19 Jun 2008 @ 3:14pm

list of scum lawyers
I need a list of these type scum lawyers. How do I get a list. My son was involved in accident in the rain he tried to avoid the accident and that is evident in the accident report because his car was steered to the left to avoid the other car but he still ended up hitting the vehicle(road was wet & slippery at the time). My son saw given a careless driving ticket in any case. The other driver walked away from the accident with no help and was fine didn't want anyone called she said her back hurt from the jolt (she is 62 yrs old)and drove away from the accident in her car. The insurance totaled her vehicle and now is asking for $100,000. for our insurance. Both we and the insurance believe the Dr's bills are stacked up. She had a pre-existing condition with her back and degenerative disk problems that yes were agreivated by the accident but not $100,000. worth. This will ruin my son for insurance for years. I am just curious if this is one of those blood sucking lawyers how do I find out?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]