Looking To Sue? Site Wants You.

On Monday October 5, 2009 whocanisue.com was featured on the front page of the Sun Sentinel newspaper, here is what they had to say about us:

By Missy Diaz South Florida Sun Sentinel
Have you been bitten by a vicious dog? Been the victim of a surgical mishap? A sexual assault on a cruise ship? There’s a lawyer waiting for your call.

Boca Raton-based whocanisue.com has scores of billboards and bus-shelter signs dominating the tri-county landscape, showing a lawyer slipping on a banana peel. The service matches website visitors with lawyers in a quick-and-easy form that takes just minutes to complete.

Choose your complaint from a drop-down menu — nursing home abuse, for example — and then a sub-category, such as bed sores, dehydration or falls and fractures. Plug in your ZIP code and in the click of a mouse, a page or more of lawyers appears.

But there’s controversy over this seemingly quick way to sue for a quick buck.

The site has drawn the ire of many in the legal community, including the vice chairman of a Florida Bar advertising-ethics committee. Critics say whocanisue and other online referral services degrade the legal profession and often steer the public to lawyers who operate under a business model of “bring in as many cases as you can and settle them.” Others, including those who advertise there, say it’s just another way to attract clients.

“I’m getting probably twice as many phone calls,” said Martin Saenz, a Miami labor and employment lawyer who has been advertising on the site for just more than a month. “Of course, not all of them have a case. A lot of time is spent going through cases, but I get clients. Old-school lawyers have to keep up with technology.”

Mitch Polay, a Fort Lauderdale personal injury and criminal attorney, says colleagues recommended the site, and in the month he’s been using it, his phone hasn’t stopped ringing.

“The name was catchy,” Polay said. “I was upset I didn’t think of it.”

Whocanisue’s tactics are “egregious” and “directly appealing to people who want to be litigious, to seek out a claim,” said West Palm Beach personal injury attorney Gary Lesser, managing partner of a 10-lawyer firm started by his grandfather.

“There are real people who are hurt, who need lawyers,” he said. “Whocanisue.com is part of an emerging trend. They are not a law firm, but a referral agency.”

Lesser is vice chairman of the Florida Bar’s advertising committee, which governs lawyer advertising by reviewing and monitoring ads. Lawyers are supposed to submit their ads in advance, Lesser said, but with 87,000 Bar members it’s impossible to know how many lawyers are not doing so.

Complicating matters is that the Bar only regulates lawyers, not referral services like whocanisue.com, which skirts the rules for lawyer ads. If a lawyer who advertises on it breaks a Bar rule, such as promising a client a specific outcome such as a monetary judgment, the lawyer can face discipline. Sanctions range from a fine to a reprimand to suspension, though the latter is seldom used and reserved for repeat offenders, according to Lesser.

Even some law firms advertising on TV — something once frowned upon in the legal community — are critical of whocanisue.com’s approach. Powerhouse West Palm Beach firm Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley runs spots, but senior partner F. Gregory Barnhart says it isn’t “direct advertising” and that they don’t even include phone numbers. The whocanisue marketing strategy, he said, is “a disgrace.”

“We’re not advertising for whiplash cases or bad backs or slip-and-falls,” Barnhart said. “We handle large cases. Those people who slip and fall in Publix, God bless them. If [a firm] has to hire some guy who looks like a fireman to keep the phones ringing, that’s fine” for them.

Whocanisue was launched in October 2008 by Curtis Wolfe, 46, a former in-house counsel at a large Miami firm. He’s well aware that his site’s name might offend some.

“It’s definitely meant to be edgy,” he said. “We wanted to provoke people. Most lawyer advertising is unremarkable and not memorable. I would sit at home and see these ads asking if you’re injured blah, blah, blah. There was no branding involved. We have a brand.”

The company’s office on West Palmetto Park Road in Boca Raton has 22 employees, the majority in sales. Two hundred and fifty law firms are signed up as clients and about 25,000 people visit the site each month. Whocanisue.com also advertises in Texas, California, New York, Pennsylvania and other states.

“At this rate, we are projecting to do $10 million-plus in 2010,” said president Vincent Celentano, who helped finance the multimillion-dollar start up, which includes irreverent television spots featuring buxom nurses and a pack of lawyers chasing an ambulance.

Despite the parody, Wolfe says, his site actually is the “anti-ambulance-chasing lawyers.”

“Come to our site, then find the attorney of your choosing when you’re ready,” he said.

Injuries top the list of queries, followed by loan modifications and foreclosures and then employment issues.

Wolfe says the site makes it very clear: “Whocanisue doesn’t represent you. You’re represented by whoever you hire as an attorney.”

Lesser said he and many other lawyers are dismayed at its appeal.

“We get together and say: ‘It has come to this?’ “

Website Answers The Question: Who Can I Sue?

cbs4 News Miami/Broward County

May 15, 2009 11:31 pm US/Eastern

If something in the water made you sick, or you were involved in a slip and fall, you might feel like you’re in the dark unless you spend money seeking a legal consultation with an attorney. You might not even know who to contact in the first place.

“The average person on the street, who doesn’t have a rolodex of lawyers that they can call, they don’t know where they can go,” said whocanisue.com CEO Curtis Wolfe.

The question resonates across South Florida, in the form of an advertised website “whocanisue.com”, and the company wants to cover north Florida too. Victims can go online and find out what their legal options are for free.

Ily Socas owns the Imani Santini salon in Doral.

“This is a hair salon, you get to hear a lot about what is going on in people’s lives,” said Socas. “I have had people asking me for opinions, and I am not a lawyer.”

And recently a former client gave Socas a reason to seek legal advice.

“I trust every one, and she gave me a check that bounced; it was a little more than five hundred dollars,” she said.

So Socas logged on and found out her situation is better handled in small claims court, but there are other legal categories that provide you with some basic advice.

Curtis doesn’t think his site perpetuates the litigious society we live in.

“I don’t think so at all; we are giving people more information,” said Curtis.

And the best part about this kind of legal appointment is that it’s free.

“There is nothing better than free,” said Socas.

VISIT THE SITE

St. Petersburg Times

Lawyer behind whocanisue.com says goal is -  suprise! – fewer lawsuits

Kim Wilmath, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Monday, November 10, 2008

TAMPA — Florida lawyer Curtis A. Wolfe isn’t crazy about the “ambulance-chaser” image often pinned to his profession. He thinks consumers are especially tired of all the “if-you-slip-and-fall-give-us-a-call” messages saturating airwaves.

So Wolfe took action. He left the private Fort Lauderdale equity group at which he was general counsel and created his own Web site: WhoCanISue.com.

Yes, you read that right. But despite its name, Wolfe insists his site will curb frivolous lawsuits and improve lawyers’ reputations by eliminating middleman referral services.

The site eliminates go-betweens by matching potential claim-filers directly with nearby attorneys. There’s a page about product liability, which gives information about lawsuits against Icy Hot, Teflon and products containing asbestos. There’s a page for accidents, including wrongful death and slip and fall, and a page about employment wrongdoing, like nonpaid overtime.

Wolfe said there soon will be a page dedicated to divorce law, which is where it all started.

A year or so ago, Wolfe said, a friend of his wife asked him to refer her to a good divorce lawyer. Even with all his resources, Wolfe said, it took about 15 phone calls to track down the right attorney.

“There’s got to be a better way,” Wolfe recalled thinking.

Now, he says, his Web site does the legwork. Individuals search the site about a particular grievance, which generates a list of appropriate lawyers along with their educational backgrounds.

Unlike an ask so-and-so referral service, consumers track down their own lawyers instead of being matched by a middleman, Wolfe said.

The site launched in September, and Wolfe said an average of about 50 people use the site each day. For now, it’s free to both consumers and lawyers. Beginning next year, lawyers will have to pay $500 to be listed.

To Wolfe, who’s still licensed to practice law in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Florida, it’s about giving people more resources.

“There are certainly those who are fearful that because of the name it will give lawyers an even worse image,” Wolfe said. “I think, in the end, it will improve people’s perceptions.”

Frank Fernandez, of the Tampa-based Fernandez firm, isn’t so sure. Fernandez recently saw a WhoCanISue.com billboard and found it shocking.

“I’m not sure how to politely say it, but it just looks really bad for the legal profession in general,” he said. “A lot of folks trying to make a living on what we do, it’s sort of insulting to them.”

He said the Fernandez firm, in business for six years, does “quite a bit” of advertising, but Fernandez said professionalism is paramount. He said there’s a misperception that lawyers are after any lawsuit they can get.

“We try to make our ads tasteful so people come to us knowing they can respect what we tell them,” Fernandez said.

Joy Bruner, assistant ethics counsel for the Florida Bar, said specific standards govern legal advertisements to make sure they aren’t misleading. It appears Wolfe’s site is not in violation.

“I don’t know if ‘Who can I sue?’ is a problem, where ‘How can I get a million bucks?’ might be different,” Bruner said.

The Bar has received no complaints against Wolfe.

Attorney Howard Ehrlich, who has a law firm in Boca Raton, signed on with WhoCanISue.com as soon as he saw the billboard.

“I was intrigued by the name and what it was,” Ehrlich said. “I think it’s a step above what’s out there already.”

Ehrlich said he thinks the site will decrease unnecessary lawsuits. He said people often call his office wondering whether they’ve got a worthwhile claim and what to do next — questions the site is poised to answer. Those who don’t have legitimate claims can find out immediately.

Ehrlich has advertised in the past, but he thinks WhoCanISue.com “hits the mark.” And Wolfe said a name’s just a name.

“In the end, we hope people will use (the site’s name) to remember us, but if they’re going to judge us, judge us on what we do,” Wolfe said.

whocanisue.com Official Press Release

Whocanisue.com, the new site that lets consumers learn about their legal
rights and connect directly with attorneys of their choice, today
announced a first-phase South Florida regional rollout of its new
national consumer media campaign featuring television, print and outdoor
advertising to promote the whocanisue.com theme, "Know your rights, find
the right attorney."

The whocanisue.com consumer media campaign debuts this week with two
30-second ads running on broadcast TV channels serving the three most
populous counties in the State of Florida, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm
Beach, with a combined total population exceeding 5.5 million. The TV
advertising campaign will be accompanied by 1/2-page newspaper
advertisements and  high-visibility outdoor advertising currently in
place on more than 60 billboards and locations along city streets and
highways throughout South Florida.

Whocanisue.com allows potential clients to easily browse and learn online
about aspects of the law that may pertain to their case and then connect
with an attorney of their own choosing when -- and only when -- they are
ready. Whocanisue.com does not require consumers to reveal confidential
details or provide their name and phone number. Users complete a question
path to determine their qualification for a particular claim, then review
the profiles of attorneys who advertise on the site. Consumers can
initiate an instant message or phone call with the attorney, or request
that the law firm contact them directly.

"In recent years, the public has become increasingly frustrated over the
erosion of consumer protection and individual rights through excessive
deregulation of the institutions, agencies and laws that once protected
them," said Curtis Wolfe, founder and CEO of Whocanisue.com.
"Whocanisue.com provides a secure place online where individuals can gain
a better understanding of whether their rights have been violated, get
information on nearby attorneys experienced in handling similar cases and
then initiate contact with those attorneys when and how they choose."

The television ads can be seen starting this week on leading South Florida
TV channels WFLX (Fox29) and WSFL (CW). The ads adopt a comical style to
focus viewer attention on the choice and ease involved in connecting with
attorneys through the whocanisue.com website without being intimidating to
the user.

In one TV ad, a patient bandaged head-to-toe awakens to survey his
hospital surroundings. Spotting a nurse at the foot of his bed he calls
out, "Nurse, who can I sue?" -- only to engage in a parody of the old
"Who's on First?" comedy routine, the impatient nurse finally telling him
about "whocanisue.com, silly! There you can learn about any legal claims
and contact the attorney of your choice when you're ready."

Consumers can also view the TV ads online at YouTube, sharing the video
with friends and social networks and learning more about the service on
the dedicated whocanisue.com channel at: www.youtube.com/wcismedia.

Whocanisue.com, backed by individuals from the legal and online marketing
communities led by venture capitalist and former Holiday Isle Resort and
Marina partner Vincent L. Celentano, was launched in August 2008 at the
Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association. Since the end-September
launch of the company's "beta" website, whocanisue.com has received
hundreds of thousands of visits from individuals seeking more information
about their legal rights and to find attorneys in their area.

Designed to fill the gap in the market with a model that gives consumers
greater control, safety, and efficiency, whocanisue.com allows users to
select the attorney of their choice from among lawyers who advertise on
the website. It does not field incoming queries from clients in order to
direct them to an attorney chosen by the service and is therefore in
compliance with bar association rules and regulations that restrict
activities of referral services.

At whocanisue.com, users can find information about a growing number of
legal topics, including: Accidents, Product Liability, Discrimination,
Financial Services, Health Care, Employment, Family Law, Criminal Law,
Nursing Homes and more. More information is available online at:
www.whocanisue.com.

About WhoCanISue.com

Whocanisue.com is the new service that brings together qualified
individuals and attorneys using a proven model of providing real-time
answers while protecting privacy and confidentiality. Attorneys can learn
more about membership in the whocanisue.com attorney network at
whocanisue.com or by calling (561) 300-4288. The company, based in Boca
Raton, Florida, is privately held.

Time Magazine Covers whocanisue.com

August 25, 2008 whocanisue.com was featured in Time Magazine here is what they had to say about us:

Who Can You Sue? Click Here
By Siobhan Morrissey / Miami

As if there weren’t enough people out there suing each other, now a Florida attorney has come up with a way to make the process even easier.

Beginning next month, anyone with access to the Internet should be able to log onto WhoCanISue.com. The new website plans to help consumers determine whether they actually have a case and help them find an attorney from a list of lawyers who advertise their expertise on the website. The attorneys will pay an annual fee of $1,000 to appear on the site, plus an additional amount of their own choosing that will determine how prominently they appear in the listings on the site. The website will vet the attorneys to make sure they are in good standing with their state bar associations.

Curtis A. Wolfe, formerly general counsel for Fort Lauderdale-based private equity firm Ener1 Group and the founder of WhoCanISue.com, plans to unveil the new website in September. But he will begin signing up attorneys to advertise on the site when the American Bar Association convenes it annual meeting in New York City on Thursday.

Wolfe’s website is not the first of its kind. His most direct competition includes SueEasy.com and LegalMatch.com, among others. But Wolfe says his service — which is free to the consumer — differs from the others in that he will provide real-time access to attorneys. After consumers answer a set of general questions about their grievances, they will be given some guidance about whether they might have a case worth pursuing; if they do, they will be immediately put in touch with an interested attorney.

The proliferation of legal matchmakers like Wolfe leaves some in the profession skeptical. “As if there aren’t enough lawyers out there inventing lawsuits, now we’re going to invite the public to do so,” scoffed prominent Miami trial attorney Richard Sharpstein, a partner at Jorden Burt. “I think this is nothing more than a referral service,” he says of WhoCanISue.com. “It encourages, if not creates lawsuits. Our country’s courts are clogged with unnecessary and frivolous lawsuits which delay, if not obstruct, the access to courts of people that really need to get there, that have serious legal grievances.”

But Wolfe maintains his service could just as easily help someone realize he doesn’t have a case — or that, while they may have a legal claim, it won’t generate enough money to interest an attorney to take it on.

“With our system they can either find a lawyer or find out by talking to our lawyers that they don’t really have an interest in that case,” Wolfe says. “I don’t think WhoCanISue.com is going to, by itself, increase the number of lawsuits there are, but it may make people more aware of what their rights are.”

University of Florida law professor Lyrissa Lidsky believes the service “is likely to increase the number of lawsuits.” But, adds Lidsky, who specializes in Internet law and the First Amendment, “It’s a good thing to the extent people are vindicating their legal rights to the extent they didn’t years ago.”

However, if you’re looking to use the website to find a good lawyer, in most states you could do just as well by checking with the local bar association. In Florida, for example, lawyers can sign up for the state bar’s referral system by paying a $125 membership fee, agreeing to charge clients only $25 for an initial 30-minute office consultation and guaranteeing $100,000 in liability insurance coverage.