Why are corporations targeted in civil actions as opposed to criminal ones?
Many agreements between lawyers and claimants in civil law suits are carried out on a “no win, no fee” basis. There are less financial risks in pursuing civil suits against companies It is clearly a gamble, but if the plaintiffs are successful it could mean huge profits for lawyers, up to tens of millions of dollars in some cases. Because they will get a pre-determined percentage of any compensation awarded to their clients, there is a further incentive to take the case. The other reason is that criminal cases have a much higher evidence threshold and are much tougher to win. However, in the case of Chiquita, Colombian lawyers are working on a criminal case against the Chiquita board members who authorised payments to paramilitaries. Since Chiquita admitted making such payments in a US federal law case, the Colombian lawyers are calling for extradition of the American CEO’s to stand trial in Colombia. They argue that since Colombia has long-extradited drug traffickers to the US it is n
