Yes

6 of 10

by Jinianne Lutz

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Americans sue for silly and nonsensical reasons. Almost every day, the newspaper will have an article about a lawsuit. I remember one from years past in which a thief broke into a house, stole things, fell down the steps and broke his leg. He then sued the owners and won. Of course, we probably all remember the McDonald's coffee suit in which a patron spilled hot coffee on herself, sued and won.

And here's a good one, taken from this web site: A Texan woman was awarded $780,000 after she sued a furniture store. She sued because she tripped and fell over a child running amok in the store. Surprisingly, she won the case, even though the child was her own. The store owners had to sell everything just to pay the woman. Check out the website for other ridiculous lawsuits.

People seem to believe that a lawsuit will bring them instant wealth. Instead, frivolous lawsuits cost the taxpayers money and time. The victim has to pay an untold amount of money and gain little or nothing in return. Those called to sit on a jury spend needless hours waiting. Once the trial is in progress, the jurors have to listen to both sides of the story and then make a logical decision based on illogical facts.

This day is bringing forced lies as truth, and truth as lies. This makes it easier for people to continue to bring lawsuits. We (society) must stop allowing these lawsuits to happen, but that is much easier said than done. When an innocent victim is sued, there are now two lawyers on the payroll. Additionally, court courts are incurred.

Fraudulent car accidents are on the rise. A driver forces a car to run into him and claims tissue damage (which is nearly impossible to detect). He gets a huge settlement and the other driver's car insurance rates go up. Additionally, car insurance rates rise for everyone due to the amount of money and payouts spent on these lawsuits.

Repackaging products has become the norm in order to help prevent lawsuits. Next time you're in the drug store, read some of the warning labels. What seems like common sense to nearly everyone, such as not using hardware drills as dental implements, there are always those who look for reasons to do a foolish act and then get rewarded for it through a lawsuit. Therein is part of the problem. By continuing to reward frivolous lawsuits, we all pay the price. Escalating health care costs, double and triple packaging, and warning labels all over products translate to higher cost of the product.

So what's the solution? We, as Americans, need to begin to accept and take personal responsibility for our actions. It is not the fault of a fast food restaurant that we are overweight, it is our own fault. Perhaps we should consider enacting a law to limit payouts of these types of lawsuits.

Additionally, judges should have the authority to throw such cases out of court and those cases would not be allowed to be repealed. An innocent victim of a frivolous lawsuit should be compensated for the money spent on a lawyer. In other words, the person filing the original fraudulent lawsuit should be required to repay the innocent victim. If judges could, and would, exert that ruling, it might help reduce clearly ridiculous lawsuits.

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