Our Litigious Society

It seems that everybody’s suing someone these days. Too fat from eating too many Happy Meals? Sue McDonald’s. Can’t quit smoking? Sue the tobacco companies. Think you paid too much for that software? Sue Microsoft. Didn’t like that politically incorrect joke you heard at the office? Sue your boss. It seems that nobody wants to take any personal responsibility for their own actions anymore, and everyone wants their cut of all of that “free money.” Unfortunately, people don't seem to realize the social repercussions of our litigious society.

Just today I experienced an example of how the mere threat of litigation can negatively impact society. My daughter had a school field trip scheduled for today. She had been looking forward to this field trip for weeks, and I volunteered to be a chaperone for the excursion. But the weather forecast called for the possibility of a thunderstorm, so the school called the trip off. Was it because the school administrators were looking out for the best interests of the children? Certainly not. They were so afraid of the possibility of litigation that they decided to cancel the trip entirely, as opposed to adapting to the change in circumstances. What did this teach the kids? It taught the kids that in the face of adversity, you should pack your bags and go home. The kids learned that it’s better to quit than to adapt, overcome and improvise.

Any trial lawyer who reads this will disagree with me vehemently. They’ll say “Those who take unnecessary risks should be punished.” “Those big corporations don’t care about you, all they care about is money.” “We’ve got to stick it to the man, and teach them that we won’t take their greed anymore.” Of course as they say this, they’re lining their wallets with cash, and giving the “injured parties” the scraps that are left over after the lawyers take their cut. They say this because they’ve got a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

The single biggest reason that our society is so lawsuit happy is because the laws of our society are created by politicians who overwhelmingly started out as attorneys. They start out as lawyers, become politicians, and create more complex, convoluted and unnecessary laws, strictly designed to perpetuate their interests and agendas. They couldn’t care less about the needs of society as a whole; they merely care about their personal well-being.

We’re turning into a society of wimps, and we’re losing our willingness to take risks. As we continue down this path of litigiousness, other countries are taking risks, innovating, and becoming more productive. To an increasing extent, we’re losing our competitive edge in the world. Why? Because everyone is so afraid of getting sued that they’re unwilling to act on new and innovative ideas.

What ever happened to the pioneering spirit on which Americans used to pride themselves? It’s lying on its death bed, tied up in the court system. Could you imagine what would have happened if our society was this litigious 150 years ago? We never would have settled the west, because the pioneers would have been too afraid of being sued if Indians attacked the wagon trains. We never would have had the industrial revolution, because the factory owners would have been too afraid of getting sued for environmental damage. Countless medical cures would have never been created because they’d be afraid of being sued by people who weren’t happy with the side effects of constipation and dry mouth. Electricity wouldn’t be in every American home, because of the fear that the homeowner would be electrocuted.

We’ve got to change our mentality. We’ve got to get our edge back. We’ve got to relearn how to take risks. If we don’t our children will suffer. They’ll continue to live in this culture of fear and safety, while the rest of the world continues to innovate. Our jobs will continue to go overseas, because corporations will locate the jobs to places where they can’t get sued over stupid shit.

In order to get our edge back, we’ve got to do two things. We as a society need to raise the threshold for what constitutes a frivolous lawsuit, and we as individuals need to stop taking part in lawsuits about stupid shit. We need to break this cycle from the top and from the bottom. If we don’t, then things will continue to deteriorate for us as a society. We’ll continue to pay more for goods and services, because the cost of litigation will continue being built into the cost of these goods and services, and our kids will continue being unable to go on field trips just because of the threat of a little rain.