Are we too eager to sue one another in America today?

by Nathan Breck

Created on: July 05, 2009

The constant moaning and groaning about how many lawsuits we have today is getting old, and it is high time to talk some sense. We have lawsuits, and lots of them, for some frivolous reasons: yes, surprise, that's how the world is now. The same trend is on the rise in virtually every developed nation, though perhaps not to quite the same extent.

The issue at hand is that urbanization and suburbanization, combined with various cultural shifts, ideological changes, and the dynamics of public policy are destroying our communities that would normally forestall and resolve disputes. That is a major problem: but it is the simple truth. We are faced with a world where functional communities are slipping into the dim waters of history. What is the logical response?

Seek recompense through alternative means, most notably through lawsuits. The parts of our lives contained in law-books will grow while the parts of our lives contained in neighbors' diaries declines. We have no more or less stupidity, disputes, or meanspirited and frivolous feuds than other times, but we settle them through litigation because other factors have destroyed the old means of settlement. While it is easy and popular to say, "We should rebuild our communities!" they are a rare breed who will give their lives to that cause. Moreover, the question at hand is not about general societal flaws, but about a society of litigation.

Given the decay of functional community, it is reasonable and certainly understandable to have more lawsuits tossed about. People will always seek a satisfactory settlement. When public policy claims to offer all solutions, the public-legal framework must be the conduit where problems are sorted out. When scientific medicine claims to offer all solutions, the medical-legal framework must be the conduit through which problems are sorted out. When teachers become employees of state and national governments rather than communities, the state and national courts must be more involved. Litigation is just the new face of the same old problem. Given that people on the whole don't change much, it would be silly and overly pious to offer too harsh a condemnation of a litigious society. It seems foolish to demand a higher code of get-along-with-each-other of today than has ever been seen in the past, so we must learn to cope with the methods of dispute resolution which exist today.

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