Personal injury lawyers are either champions of the people or rapacious parasites, depending on your political persuasion. In my view, both species exist - why should trial lawyers be any different from politicians, CEOs or journalists? Nevertheless, the civil courts have undoubtedly benefited citizens in their mismatched battles with government, business and other huge institutions. When the legislative and executive branches have often been paralyzed, meaningful change has still happened via the courts.

The latest issue of Minnesota Law & Politics magazine has a list of the state’s top-grossing personal injury cases of 2007, along with a list of the lawyers and firms that represented the plaintiffs. In some cases, the plaintiffs aren’t identified, presumably because the case was settled before it was ever filed. The 37 cases are truly a litany of horrors:

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Speedway convenience stores are encouraging or forcing assistant managers, shift leaders, co-managers and other workers with similar titles to to work extra hours for nothing, according to a federal lawsuit (speedway.pdf) filed in Minnesota last week by two onetime employees of the 1,500-store Ohio-based chain. The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, claims that Speedway SuperAmerica LLC and its parent companies violated federal and state wage and hour laws when their assistant managers weren’t paid for “receiving work related phone calls, conducting gas price surveys and gas checks on competitor prices, covering missed shifts, responding to customer complaints, running errands, responding to store alarms, opening the store safe and resolving other store issues,” the law firms report on the lawsuit’s web site. The site quotes plaintiff Constantine Thompson, who worked at Speedway stores in Minnesota: “‘I was pressured by Speedway to work off-the-clock… Many nights I took phone calls relating to store business. I was never compensated for this work which interrupted my family life and contributed to Speedway’s successful operation.”

A Speedway spokeswoman told the Pioneer Press that the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but the web site indicates “a career with us means weekly paychecks, bonuses, great benefits, a diverse work environment and unlimited opportunities.” Speedway is a subsidiary of Marathon Oil Co. of Houston, Texas.