Business Law 12th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller ,Frank Cross

Exercise 2

Ronald Metzgar placed his fi fteen-month-old son, Matthew, awake and healthy, in his playpen. Ronald left the room for fi ve minutes and on his return found Matthew lifeless. A toy block had lodged in the boy's throat, causing him to choke to death. Ronald called 911, but efforts to revive Matthew were to no avail. There was no warning of a choking hazard on the box containing the block. Matthew's parents hired an attorney and sued Playskool, Inc., the manufacturer of the block, alleging that the manufacturer had been negligent in failing to warn of the block's hazard. Playskool fi led a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the danger of a young child choking on a small block was obvious. Using the information presented in the chapter, answer the following questions.
Suppose that the attorney the Metzgars hired agreed to represent them on a contingency-fee basis. What does that mean?
DEBATE THIS: Some consumer advocates argue that attorneys' high contingency fees-sometimes reaching 40 percent-unfairly deprive winning plaintiffs of too much of their awards. Should the government put a cap on contingency fees at, say, 20 percent of the award? Why or why not?