by Vic

Created on: April 22, 2008

The purpose of a civil suit should be to right a wrong and to restore a normalcy to the situation. Too often, this is not actually possible. If someone becomes disabled from negligence, stupidity or some other factor, normalcy will never again be reached. In a civil suit two competing interests collide, and most likely both have some valid points.

American society has become so litigious it is ridiculous. I cannot even count the number of times foreign friends have asked me why in the world people are suing each other for such random things, "isn't there a better way," they often ask.

I feel it is our right to sue someone in a civil suit if we have been wronged, but too often the jury doesn't see the whole picture, for a variety of reasons.

As an example, I'll share my one experience with a civil suit. When I was in high school I was in a car accident. An older woman turned left on a yellow light, feeling that she had the right of way to turn left. I, continuing through the light, having already passed the crosswalk and unable to stop continued through the intersection and collided with the woman. We sued her insurance company, but for stupid rules it looked like we were suing her. When I was called to testify, I wasn't allowed to mention that she had been ticketed for the accident, that the police had said she was in the wrong. The jury ended up giving me nothing, because they couldn't see the whole picture. All they saw was my lawyer father fairly well off suing some poor old woman. They couldn't see that at 16 I had bought my own car and the poor old woman's negligence and lack of knowledge of driving rules, poor eyesight and broken leg not only ruined my car but forced me to quit a job since I know longer had a way to reach my job. No, the jury couldn't see this. They couldn't see that we had spent 3 years fighting the insurance company, not the old woman. Now, this situation is different in that no money was awarded, but it shows that too often, for rules put in the legal system to protect us, the whole picture is never seen by the jury, leading to decisions that are often way off the mark, in either direction.

I agree that the negligent doctor should be punished, but we also need a little perspective. A negligent bagger at the grocery store, after pulling many shifts may make a mistake and some groceries are lost, or a glass breaks on the floor. The doctor makes a mistake and his life is ruined? Please, we can't make decisions like that. Our society has

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