What is ambulance chasing?

written by Howard

Ambulance chasing refers to solicitation of almost any kind of legal business by laymen employed by an attorney for the purpose [of legal business] or by the attorney himself. The term is derived from the notorious practice of some lawyers who follow patients from ambulances to the emergency room to find prospective clients. Ambulance chasing is prohibited as it only spawned:

  1. Fomenting of litigation with resulting burdens on the courts and the public;
  2. Subordination of perjury,
  3. Mulcting of innocent persons by judgments, upon manufactured causes of actions, and
  4. Defrauding of injured persons having proper causes of action but ignorant of legal rights and court procedure by means of contracts which retain exorbitant percentages of recovery and illegal charges for court costs and expenses and by settlement made for quick returns of fees and against the just rights of the injured persons.

(Agpalo, Legal and Judicial Ethics, p. 72-73)