Does anyone else think that our nation has gone lawsuit crazy?

Question

I think that most of the lawsuits that are being filed are crazy. Does anyone agree? I think that there are a few situations that it is warranted, but do you agree that our nation has gone lawsuit crazy?

Answer 1

Yes, I completely agree, and that moronic judge that sued that innocent dry cleaner for millions of dollars over suit pants filed an appeal today. It is completely out of control.

Answer 2

It's better than the alternatives. Would you want some low-level bureaucrat like a city court clerk to decide whether or not your complaint is worth bringing before a judge? Would you want to risk having *honest* complaints also getting thrown out the window before you even get a fair hearing?

Oh, what's that I hear you saying, "tort reform"?? Sure, I suppose that would stop a lot of people from filing frivilous lawsuits, but it would discourage many other people from filing legitimate ones as well. Keep in mind that just because you lose a lawsuit you bring against somebody, that doesn't mean it was frivilous. There are many kinds of civil cases where you may have a reasonable complaint and stand maybe a 70% chance of winning, and 30% chance of losing. Liability in a civil court is not always that clear cut, the way guilt is in a criminal court. How would you like it if you sued a major corporation for being injured by a faulty product, they pay their teams of slick lawyers thousands of dollars an hour and end up beating you? Even your grandchildren would be in debt from you having to pay all their legal bills. Under a "loser pays" tort reform system, big corporations and rich people would essentially be able to get away with murder because ordinary people would be too afraid to sue them. How would the "little guy" be able to get justice?

Ultimately, it's for a judge and jury to decide whether or not a complaint is frivolous. A judge already has the power to punish plaintiffs who bring ridiculous and unfounded complaints, and he can order them to pay the defendant's legal fees if he feels it's appropriate. Yes, it can be burdensome for the government but that's the price we pay for everyone having equal access to the justice system. The system really isn't broken, so it doesn't need to be fixed.

Answer 3

Actually, many advanced urban civilizations were a lot more litigious than the United States is today. Ancient Athens, for example, did not have a concept of a stated claim or cause of action at all -- you could sue anyone you wanted for anything you wanted. A famous example is one of Pericles' sons suing Pericles for reacting callously to the accidental death of a beloved slave. Elizabethan England, also, had a lot more lawsuits (per capita) than the United States does today.

Today, the only societies where people don't have lawsuits are those where people have no money and no rights.

Regerugged: Isn't it amusing how people hate those who make their professions necessary. If it weren't for lawsuits, I doubt you'd make out very well as an insurance adjuster. By the way, I once represented one of your former collegues in a personal injury lawsuit. (Not willingly -- I would never represent one of your kind if it were up to me -- it was a partner's choice.) This adjuster was proud of having designated every one of his cases "no pay", because he considered all claimants liars, cheaters, and malingerers. Well, after 40 or so years in the business, he retired and decided to study acting. While he was prancing on stage one day, pretending to be a butterfly, the floor collapsed, and suffered a pretty bad leg and hip injury. He went broke paying for surgeries and therapy that his insurance and medicare wouldn't cover (or course), but still ended up in a wheelchair. And then he was monumentally surprised why the theater's adjuster in HIS case treated HIM as a liar, cheater, and malingerer, and didn't want to give HIM any money. After his deposition, the man cried -- he actually cried! Talk about crocodile tears. I did what I was required to do on his case, but I was glad that it eventually settled for less than the amount of his medical bills. Serves him right! I am glad he's spending the rest of his life tasting his own medicine day after day.

Danny: Why would insurance companies lower their premiums? Out of the goodness of their hearts? In every single state that enacted dollar limits on malpractice lawsuits, premiums have gone up, not down. There is nothing in the proposed tort reform that would force insurance companies to offer better rates. Payouts and litigation expenses for insurance companies have actually steadily decreased over the past 20 years -- but premiums have shot through the roof. Because unlike us lawyers, insurance executives are poor public servants who work for free.

Answer 4

Americans LOVE free money:
Welfare
Unemployment
Casinos
Lotteries
Game Shows
Social Security
Medicare
Inheritance
Pensions
Workman's Compensation
The stock market (investments)
Money cantrips
Grants
etc.
Frivolous lawsuits are just continuing an American trend.

Answer 5

Frivilous law suits aren't new. The trend started in the late '80s and has continued to contribute to the decline of society ever since. When you have people winning rediculous suits against a company for them burning themself with hot coffee because it was hot (well duh, probably would have sued if it wasn't hot when they bought it), doesn't say much for us as a whole does it.
Nobody seems to want to work to earn their money, they would rather drive up the costs of attorneys by filing stupid litigation to get rich quick.

Answer 6

Yes, our country is lawsuit crazy. America used to be a land everyone wanted to go to, but now we're laughed at.

Answer 7

Imma gonna sue you for sayin I's crazy. SUE I SAY!!!!


Translation: I just read that judge was appealing the 54m 'screwed up my suit' lawsuit so yea without a doubt.

Answer 8

Absolutely. One way we could "fix" our medical system is to push through tort reform! If the doctors didn't have to protect themselves against so many frivolous lawsuits, their insurance (which is higher than rent in many cases) would go down and so would (you'd think) their costs!
It's also the ambulance chasers. They push it, and it's just what people do nowadays.
Makes for good(?) TV on Judge Judy tho!

Answer 9

Ummm...yeah, to say the least. It's so stupid that people have to be worried about being sued. My recent favorite is the guy who sued a dry cleaner for some astronomical amount for ruining his pants because it caused him "emotional stress" because they were his favorite pants. Whatever!!!

Answer 10

Yes, I do. I was an insurance claims adjuster. I got so fed up with money-grubbing lawyers and lying claimants that I quit and took early retirement.
I could spend days telling you about the ridiculous claims that I had to deal with.