On Friday, September 25, 2015 at 11:46:15 AM UTC-4, Stephen Sprunk wrote:   
   > On 24-Sep-15 10:25, hancock4@ wrote:   
      
   > > Some places have their own discrimination boards; Philadelphia has a   
   > > Human Relations Commission that pre-dates Federal stuff.   
   >    
   > Does that preempt federal law and the EEOC, though?   
      
   I believe people complain to the local agency first; I think their rules are   
   stricter than the Feds.  If the outcome isn't satisfactory, then they can   
   appeal to the feds.   
      
      
       
   > OTOH, if it's a class action suit, which is quite common, the lawyers   
   > will choose the lead plaintiff based on whose venue is most favorable.   
      
   Actually, I think it was class action, but all of the plaintiffs lived in a   
   certain neighborhood (I think they were suing over PCB contamination).    
   Anyway, the plaintiffs sought a change in venue but were denied.   
      
      
      
   > > FWIW, the Inquirer did a study and found that in tort cases,   
   > > plaintiffs made out much better within Philadelphia than   
   > > elsewhere--more likely to win the case, and more likely to win   
   > > significantly bigger damages.  Undoubtedly a reason why auto   
   > > insurance in Philadephia costs much more than in the suburbs, and   
   > > many times as much as in a rural county.   
   >    
   > AFAIK. that's true in every urban area.  Auto insurance rates go up with   
   > population density; very few claims ever go to court, so that's unlikely   
   > to be a significant factor.   
      
   But the Inquirer found that Philadelphia was the worst urban area.  More   
   accidents than other urban areas, and costs of repair and medical were higher   
   than other cities.   
      
   SEPTA got sick of paying out phony accident claims.  An _empty_ bus would get   
   into an accident and 100 people would file injury claims--more people than   
   could even physically fit on the bus.  So they installed cameras and hired   
   investigators.  They found    
   that after a bus got into an accident, passers-by would rush onto the bus so   
   they could file an injury claim.  They found people claiming debilitating   
   injuries were able to change their car tire.  They found many of the   
   fraudulent claimants were    
   represented by the same attorney.  After prosecution of the fraud, and   
   utilization of onboard cameras, claims outlay went down.   
      
   Unfortunately, an individual motorist usually doesn't have a camera on their   
   car, and driving through a bad neighborhood is risky for a staged accident.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)