Unhindered: Living in a Litigious Society

Living in a Litigious Society

For those who may be unclear, “litigious” refers to the word “litigation” which is essentially a lawsuit. So when I say that our society is litigious I mean that the plastic lids that go on Styrofoam coffee cups have the legend: "Warning! Contents may be hot!", stores have those bright yellow "CAUTION Wet Floor/CUIDADO Piso Mojado" signs, plastic containers have stickers with sketches of babies suffocating, and there’s little red writing on plastic bags saying "NOT A TOY."

I look at these and say, "Well, duh!" Hopefully, you look at these and say, "Well, duh!" too. But the mere existence of these disclaimers is an indication of a sickness in our society. Perhaps some people do not think "Well, duh!" and instead decide that it’s a dandy idea to stand on the very top of a ladder (that "Not A Step") and forget that the cup of hot coffee tucked in their crotch while they are driving is… well… hot.

Personally, those people could break their necks and scald their gonads and I wouldn’t be too sorry. Might do the human race some good to weed out those absent-minded idiots.

But there is a bigger danger than morons — the lawsuit-happy "victims" of negligence. And, of course, there are also sleazy lawyers, though I’m not sure whether they are morally better or worse than those "victims."

Let’s start with what could very well be a justified case. Mrs. Eugenia Smith, an 83-year-old war widow, fell and broke her hip on the front steps of the public library after checking out her weekly ration of knitting pattern books and Cat Fancy magazines. Being on a fixed income, she can’t afford the outrageous medical bills (damn American health system… I’ll probably rant on that sometime later this season) or the live-in nurse/companion that she’ll need to hire to take care of her while she recuperates. Her lawyer--in this instance a nice old-fashioned banjo-playing Matlock-y sort—urges her to sue the city for damages. "After all," he reasons, "They were responsible for removing the ice from the steps so that upstanding war widows like yourself wouldn’t slip and nearly be killed. The least they can do to make up for their negligence is to pay you enough money to cover the bills." The judge rules in favor of the kindly old woman, and the city funds are down by several million.

Now let’s pick that apart.

In my opinion, the library should have removed the ice. But it wasn’t their fault that rickety Mrs. Smith fell and broke a hip. Because of her unfortunate financial circumstances, the city should take the moral responsibility of helping her out with her bills. Unfortunately, the city cannot be relied upon to offer to do the right thing in helping Mrs. Smith out, so that’s where the courts come into the equation. Just as unfortunately, Mrs. Smith needed a mediator to deal with the judicial courts, and that’s where Matlock comes in… and goes out with a sizable monetary compensation for his skills in his pocket.

Who wins? Not Mrs. Smith—she is in tremendous pain, and full recovery at her age is hardly a given. Not the city library—they are down a few million dollars. Matlock wins, damn him. And he wasn’t even involved in the original incident!

Seen from the perspective of Mrs. Smith, the litigation system can be seen as a good thing, something that is there to help her out when unfortunate things happen. It’s a rather comforting thought for all of us; if the FDA releases a drug they say is safe but ends up causing strokes in 3% of its users, it’s nice to know that responsibility and blame will be doled out somehow and the victims given some sort of token compensation. But, as with everything, a few rotten apples will spoil the whole deal.

I’m talking about the career victims, people who decide that it’s easier suing company after company to get money rather than making an honest living.

Remember the Wendy’s finger fiasco? The "victim" Anna Ayala was found to have "a litigious history," having filed claims against other companies. She and her boyfriend staged the whole thing.

What happened to good, ol’-fashioned honesty and integrity?

Believe me, I am a big fan of getting something for nothing. I’m not even on a fixed income like Mrs. Smith. I’m on no income, mooching-off-my-family-and-friends-until-I-finally-buckle-down-and-get-a-real-job and buying little luxuries with the 500 bucks still left in my bank account from my high school graduation money (which was over five years ago--I’m quite thrifty). I’ve filled out those “Win a New Car!” slips at the mall. I’ve joined mailing lists for a chance to win a PS3. But I wouldn’t stoop to robbing anybody via the judicial branch.

If an accident due to negligence were to occur and cause bodily harm to myself, I probably would sue. But unless there were cruel and unusual circumstances, I would tell my lawyer to screw the part about repayment for “psychological damages.” Barring the occasional circus incident resulting in injury (which may involve a bunch of clowns that causes a debilitating phobia for the victim), I think that psychological damage is just an excuse for more money.

Now, don’t think that I am against dishonest litigation because of the corporations that have to fork over money. (Oh, yes, the poor, poor multi-national corporations!) They could stand to lose a few billion; there’d be fewer Wal-Marts and Blockbusters, but I can live with that. It’s the greedy corruption among the common people that makes me mad. I’m not a fan of anyone who lies or exaggerates for personal gain at the expense of anyone else. Those people who fake neck injuries to profit from car accidents are sick. You want to talk about psychological damage…. If someone claimed they were severely hurt because of me, I would cry at hurting another human being. And they would take my money and laugh at me for being a sucker who would have to subsist solely on ramen for the next ten years. Once I found out that they borrowed that neck brace from their great-aunt who had really gotten whiplash… I’d get angry and then depressed at the callousness of the human race. I would find it difficult to recapture my Anne Frank-ish belief that mankind is basically good. Then I might just become misanthropic, and that would be ironic and hypocritical because of my sociology degree. And I hate being hypocritical.

I would appreciate any comments or opinions you have on this topic. Just go to here and click on the “Post a Comment” link to let me know, or email me at thebrianfactormailbox@yahoo.com.

Thanks for reading this!

~Marie