The United States of America is a land of Litigation.

Litigation means "Lawsuits" - which are now as much a part of the American landscape as apple pie and baseball.

How did this start?  When did we learn to love to litigate?

Maybe it started with our "Not Me" attitudes.

We all know about "Not Me".  We learn about "Not Me" early in life.

Who threw the ball that broke the vase?

Not me!

Who tracked in the mud on my clean floor?

Not me!

Who let the dog out?

Not me!

Who spilled the milk on Daddy's company report?

Not me!

The "Not Me" response is kind of precious when one is a child. 

Trouble is - we're taking the "Not Me" attitude with us throughout our lives.  Nothing is ever our fault.  And because of "Not Me", we have managed to create a system of litigation wherein each one of has managed to absolve ourselves completely of responsibilities and consequences that would otherwise rest squarely on our shoulders.

Think I'm kidding?

Not me! 

• A woman spills hot coffee on herself - and sues McDonald's saying they failed to warn her the coffee would be hot.  The original jury award was for 2.9 million.  Not kidding here - See, Liebeck v. McDonald's.
•  A lifetime smoker diagnosed with lung cancer sues the cigarette manufacturers - it's all their fault he's going to die.
•  An overweight restaurant patron using a commode in the restaurant's restroom finds the toilet seat cracking beneath him.  He sues the restaurant for having a faulty toilet which led to his embarrasment and emotional distress - and wins.
• A drunken man climbs over the fence of what he thinks is his own home.  It is actually the home next door which has a pool.  The drunken man falls into the pool and drowns.  His widow sues the neighbors under their homeowner's insurance policy.  Everyone concedes that the trespassing man was drunk.  Everyone concedes that the homeowners had nothing to do with the man getting over the fence, and that the homeowners had in fact installed the fence to prevent people from using their pool.  Everyone concedes that the homeowners had absolutely no reason to suspect that the drunken man was even in their pool.  Nevertheless, the homeowners' insurance carrier pays the man's widow the one million dollar policy limit.  Why?  Simply because the homeowners OWNED the pool into which the man fell and died.

These lawsuits are not at all unusual.  If anything they are TYPICAL.   Here in the United States, the "Not Me"attitude has everyone blaming everyone else for any unfortunate event which might befall them.

Which has caused us - all of us here in the US -  a big problem.  The following are just a few examples of how our ongoing obsession with litigation has done us all a great disservice.

Auto and Home Insurance.  A fact of life in the United States.  Anyone who drives and/or owns a car is required to carry auto insurance.  Most homeowners carry home insurance.  And the premiums can be quite expensive.  At least half of each premium dollar is simply the cost the company assigns to a fund to pay for the claims and lawsuits which the insurance company will have to defend and/or pay out.  This adds up to a lot of money for all us individuals - individually.

Health Insurance.  Also a fact of life here in the United States.  Again, private or personal health insurance coverage is often obtained only with the payment of prohibitively expensive insurance premiums.  And, although the whole health insurance quagmire is certainly a nightmare worthy of its own congressional investigation, there can be no question that part of the high costs of health insurance is again, simply a result of the funds that the companies must set aside to defend the plethora of claims and lawsuits brought against the medical providers each year.

Doctor Flight.  This occurs when the doctors themselves find their own premiums for medical malpractice insurance so prohibitively expensive that they pack themselves up and move to a friendlier place where malpractice insurance premiums are less or where strict legislative controls are in effect.  (This isn't so bad if one lives in a big city, but if the few doctors in a small town take off, the people in the town can have a problem - especially when it comes to needing medical specialists.)  A currently friendly environment for the medical profession is the great State of California with its Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of California (MICRA).  California is one of the few states in the US that has laws limiting recovery in medical malpractice litigation.  Under MICRA, damages are limited to an amount of $250,000 for pain and suffering.  California doctors laud MICRA claiming MICRA was a necessary tort reform that has enabled them to stay in business.  California plaintiffs and their attorneys hate MICRA claiming that they are unfairly prohibited from obtaining gazillion dollar awards that should rightfully stem from cases where there has been severe and even grossly negligent medical malpractice.  

But, there is no arguing with the fact that the millions of lawsuits filed in the US have made the US an overly litigious society.   Moreover, this constant barrage of litigation has contributed much to a general atmosphere of fear.  It's not just the patients worrying about their doctors committing malpractice.  It's the doctors themselves worrying about defending the malpractice lawsuits that the plaintiffs are worried about having to file.  It's condo homeowners who have to worry about each and every person who enters not only their own units - but who walks upon the common areas - because each individual homeowner is often held to be liable, at least in part, to anyone who "slips or trips or falls" ANYWHERE on the condo grounds.  It's the drivers and the pool owners and the small business owners like the Chung family who own the Custom Cleaners in Washington, D.C.

The unfortunate Chungs are the defendants in a 65 MILLION DOLLAR LAWSUIT that a gentleman (more on him in a minute) filed against them two years ago with respect to a pair of pants which went missing for a week.   In spite of the fact that the pants in fact reappeared long ago, the plaintiff has insisted in pressing (no pun intended) his 65 million dollar claim against the Chungs who have been forced to hire an attorney, and who have already made several offers in a desperate attempt to settle this matter out of court.  It is reported that one offer was for $12,000 which really does sound like a decent amount of money to get for a pair of pants which aren't even missing anymore.  However the case continues, with the plaintiff alleging, among other things, that the Chungs have actively engaged in fraud, because the signs on their wall said "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and "Same Day Service". 

This kind of lawsuit can kindly be called "frivolous" and "vexatious", and can unkindly be called "stupid and outrageous".  Nevertheless, I'd be willing to bet that America's shredders will be full of "Satisfaction Guaranteed" signs in the next few months, at least until this case is tried. 

But if ever there was a clarion call for some kind of a nationwide reform or reforms in tort litigation - well, this case, it would seem, is it.

And the gentleman plaintiff in the 65 million dollar case against Custom Cleaners?  It turns out that he is quite familiar with the American system of litigation.  Judge Roy Pearson, a graduate of the very fine Northwestern University Law School, is a District of Columbia administrative hearings judge, and is representing himself in the case.

Pearson vs. Custom Cleaners, et al.

Let it stand for the beginning of some basic tort reforms in this litigious society of ours.

That's the American Way!

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