Sue-crazy America, get over it
Eric Kepley
Issue date: 3/8/04 Section: Opinion
I don't know about everyone else, but I think its crazy how obsessed Americans are with suing each other. It has been going on for a while now and it doesn't seem to be getting better. It is not just the fact that there are a lot of lawsuits, but the motive and circumstances behind the lawsuits. Some lawsuits are perfectly reasonable and I do not blame some of the people for suing. If I were in similar situations I would do the same thing. However some are so bizarre and dumb I can't figure out what could possibly be going through the person's mind.
I am sure you have all heard of the woman suing McDonalds for their coffee being too hot. She spilt the coffee on herself while she was driving and got burnt. She spilt the coffee, not the restaurant. If the coffee was not hot she probably would have complained that she wants hot fresh coffee.
That was one of the first ludicrous lawsuits I remember hearing but it certainly has not been the last.
Some parents also sued Disney Land and one of the workers because the person wearing the Mickey costume took off the mouse head in front of their kid because he was hot and the parents sued for emotional scarring. It may have been tragic to the kid at the time but I doubt it is still affecting him today. These are pretty stupid but it gets better (or worse dependingon how you look at it).
A burglar breaks into someone's house with the intent of robbing them.
While he is lurking around in the dark some how he cuts himself on a knife. The robber sues the home-owners for some idiotic reason or another and get this... the burglar wins. The owners of the house had to pay some butt-munch money because he was trying to take their hard earned possessions and got caught because he is a terrible thief.
That's the craziest part. There are a lot of stupid people in the world that would do anything for money so I can see that there would be a lot of lawsuits, but these people are actually winning the lawsuits. That means highly respectable and supposedly smart people are rewarding these gold-digger dimwits gobs of money. I can possibly see in some situations paying for hospital bills but just because you burn yourself on coffee or someone accidentally made your kid cry, you do not need and definitely do not deserve a million dollar settlement. Bad things happen no matter who you are and you learn to just get over it. I'm a big fan of making the best out of every situation but I think this is going a little too far.
I am sure you have all heard of the woman suing McDonalds for their coffee being too hot. She spilt the coffee on herself while she was driving and got burnt. She spilt the coffee, not the restaurant. If the coffee was not hot she probably would have complained that she wants hot fresh coffee.
That was one of the first ludicrous lawsuits I remember hearing but it certainly has not been the last.
Some parents also sued Disney Land and one of the workers because the person wearing the Mickey costume took off the mouse head in front of their kid because he was hot and the parents sued for emotional scarring. It may have been tragic to the kid at the time but I doubt it is still affecting him today. These are pretty stupid but it gets better (or worse dependingon how you look at it).
A burglar breaks into someone's house with the intent of robbing them.
While he is lurking around in the dark some how he cuts himself on a knife. The robber sues the home-owners for some idiotic reason or another and get this... the burglar wins. The owners of the house had to pay some butt-munch money because he was trying to take their hard earned possessions and got caught because he is a terrible thief.
That's the craziest part. There are a lot of stupid people in the world that would do anything for money so I can see that there would be a lot of lawsuits, but these people are actually winning the lawsuits. That means highly respectable and supposedly smart people are rewarding these gold-digger dimwits gobs of money. I can possibly see in some situations paying for hospital bills but just because you burn yourself on coffee or someone accidentally made your kid cry, you do not need and definitely do not deserve a million dollar settlement. Bad things happen no matter who you are and you learn to just get over it. I'm a big fan of making the best out of every situation but I think this is going a little too far.