Do you feel that the lawsuits in this country have gotten out of hand , and the amounts awarded?

Question

While compensation is neccesary in many cases are the amounts awarded feesible?

Answer 1

I agree and Disagree.

Yes, many suits are frivolous, yet, the very high majority are good ones with good arguements. I'd guess 98% are good suits and the press exploits those other 2% as they are so news worthy...

If you are of mind that lawsuits are bad and that people should not be able to file suit, think again as to why they happen.

A law suit is a private citizens chance to "Prosecute" a civil case on thier own behalf. The Government is out of the picture.

Consider that Insurance companies act in thier own interest as do All other Company's and corporations; a citizen has that same right.

I have dealt with insurance companies whom did thier Very Best to pay as little as possible for damages as they really Do Not Care what happens to You.

I have seen awards of 10 million for a spilled cup of hot coffee on someones lap and awards of $300, 000 for a lost finger and in this I agree with you. I'd rather burn my lap a little than loose a finger, go figure, they let O.J. go also...

A jury does what They want, a power thing...

Also be advised the press has less interest in City or county entity suits than they do in private citizen suits as it is less interesting I suppose. Cities and Countys sue each other all the time with lkess dramatic results.

Answer 2

Occationally there are some excessive awards. But they are very rare.

Whenever there is a big award it hit the media. Small ones don't. And whenever there is a big award, the media typically tell the very basic facts leaving out the details of the very couplable conduct of the defendant.

Like all though this P had only suffered $30,000 worth of damage and was awarded $600,000, the defendant knew that the product could have been made safe for free and knew that at least 20,000 other people had been injured by the product and that the defendant's profit on that one product was $1 million dollars per day.

In ever suit, 6-12 ordinary people. Not attys, but ordinary people listen to the plaintif's side and then they hear the defendand's side. And only after those ordinary people who are just like you hear all the facts do they give an award. And they just like you don't beleive in giving other peoples money away for no reason. But they conclude that this particular defendant's behavior warrented the large award.

And after the ordinary people say what they think is fair, the judge, if he thinks it is too high he can lower it. He can't raise it if he thinks the jury was too low, but he can lower it.

Answer 3

What do you mean, "Have gotten out of hand?" Americans have been suing each other since the first available court date after the Mayflower landed and we've never stopped. By the late 1600's, we were famous for it. In the mid 1700's, Samuel Johnson noted that there were more copies of "Blackstone's Common Law" in Massachusetts alone than in all of England. Think of it as an early version of Reality TV.

Awards, mostly punitive damages have gotten larger as the Defendants have gotten larger. Punitive damages are a jury's way of saying, "Don't do this again."

The really big awards that have been getting all of the attention have been for either fraud or negligence. These cases are rarely pursued in the criminal courts for a number of reasons. Prosecutors, most of whom have higher ambitions, are reluctant to alienate potential campaign contributors. You can't put a corporation in prison and the fines the law provides are daunting to an individual, but trivial to a large company. Civil Suits are the only real recourse, the only way to provide a sufficient penalty to be a deterrent and even Public Prosecutors use them because Criminal Statutes aren't up to the job of taking on the biggies.

"Tort Reform" is just Corporate America's way of saying, "Life isn't cheap enough." It's seems manifestly unfair to them that the profits they make by leaving products with known defects on the market, stealing intellectual property, making fraudulent offers or billing fraud should be taken away by the courts.

Every major corporation in the world has a room full of actuaries that do nothing but calculate how many people can be killed or maimed before the lawsuits outweigh the profits and a recall must be made. It is not in the Public Interest to make these guys jobs easier.

When you see a huge judgement in the news, just remember that one of two things are happening. Either somebody got killed or maimed because a company was cutting corners or enough people got ripped off that the Class Action award was a big one.

Answer 4

The latest frivolous lawsuit with the cleaners over a pair of pants was a classic example of people wasting the time and resources of the courts. We should have a mandatory intermediate system checking out these suits and throwing out those which are comic at best and a wast of the courts time.
We all end up paying in one way or another. It may be with having to wait a long time to have a valid and extremely urgent case heard because of some idiot with an exaggerated idea of what his case is worth. I lay some of the blame on any lawyer who would represent such a worthless case. It's one thing to have a demented client and a whole other thing to represent them just because they want to make a little money.

Answer 5

Way out of hand and far far to much awarded in compensation, it's one of the reasons the courts are so over loaded with frivolous law suits , not to say some compensation isn't deserved but not what most get these days.

Answer 6

There is so many stupid lawsuits out there, that yes have got out of hand, look at that guy suing for some pants for millions of dollars, its retarded no wonder, the courts don't want to handle things.

Answer 7

I believe that lawsuits have gotten REALLY out of hand.The amount of compensation ask for at times is absolutely ridiculous.Especially that lawyer that sued his dry cleaners for five millon for a lost pair of pants! I mean come on now!!!

Answer 8

Simply stated. Yes, our society is too quick to sue and jurors too quick to award large judgments. Ultimately this costs all of us.

Answer 9

$54mil for lost pants, $4mil for wrong fast food orders - gimme a break - btw your question traumatized me my attorney will contact you

Answer 10

Defnitly. point 7 is the optimal, and there ought to be 8 tiers, yet element acceptance. over 500 factors- "commencing as much as experience it" ("nametag) over one thousand factors - "getting interior the groove" over 1500 factors - "interior the groove" over 2000 factors - "YA! newbie" over 3000 factors - "YA! Starter" over 4500 factors - "YA! All-famous person" over 6000 factors - "YA! movie star" over 8000 factors - "YA! Veteran" what do you adult men think of roughly that?