Could a lawsuit be in your future?
America has been called the "most litigious society on earth" and for good reason. Lawsuits are filed regularly over everything under the sun. Some of these lawsuits are controversial, such as the death row inmate who claims lethal injection is "Cruel and unusual punishment" yet we accept that this is the "humane" way to put a sick animal to sleep. Some are important to the safety of the public, cases where a defective product has caused injury or death. And then there are the stupid and frivolous lawsuits when a plaintiff sues because their own common sense took a vacation.
Minor civil issues blossom into lawsuits daily. A pair of neighbors argue over property lines, landlord tenant disputes, and the ever popular "I'm not happy" lawsuits. Yes this society is drunk on their ability to sue. How how likely are you to end up in court? Let me share some statistics with you.
In 2002 a comparison of hospitalizations and court filings. Lets keep this in mind when considering the data. A hospital never closes it's doors. Hospitals are open for business 24/7 365 days of the year and they even stay open on that extra day during leap years. The courts are open Monday through Friday from 9-5. And they close on holidays too.
According to the Hospital Statistics, American Hospital Association 2002 edition there were 36 million hospitalizations. According to Examining the Work of State Courts 2002 there were 93 million court filings. Unless you are a mother giving birth, odds are you weren't sharing that hospital bed with someone else. However since people are rarely schizophrenic enough to sue themselves, you need to have a plaintiff and a respondent for a court filing. You can probably safely double the number on court filings to represent how many people were going into court.
Now for the last bit of bad news, If you are innocent of whatever you are accused of you must still have representation to prove it. That means that even though you are innocent and in the right, it is going to take money to pay for a lawyer and other court costs even though you have not done anything wrong.
Since all it takes to sue someone at the very least is an accusation, no matter how outrageous, and the cost of filing with the court; many lawsuits that should not see the light of day are on the docket. So lets say your neighbor has nothing better to do than go down to the courthouse and file against you for feeding birds which led to his trees and boat getting bombarded(True case by the way, read it here), you must now come out of your pocket to pay lawyers fees and court costs.
Minor civil issues blossom into lawsuits daily. A pair of neighbors argue over property lines, landlord tenant disputes, and the ever popular "I'm not happy" lawsuits. Yes this society is drunk on their ability to sue. How how likely are you to end up in court? Let me share some statistics with you.
In 2002 a comparison of hospitalizations and court filings. Lets keep this in mind when considering the data. A hospital never closes it's doors. Hospitals are open for business 24/7 365 days of the year and they even stay open on that extra day during leap years. The courts are open Monday through Friday from 9-5. And they close on holidays too.
According to the Hospital Statistics, American Hospital Association 2002 edition there were 36 million hospitalizations. According to Examining the Work of State Courts 2002 there were 93 million court filings. Unless you are a mother giving birth, odds are you weren't sharing that hospital bed with someone else. However since people are rarely schizophrenic enough to sue themselves, you need to have a plaintiff and a respondent for a court filing. You can probably safely double the number on court filings to represent how many people were going into court.
Now for the last bit of bad news, If you are innocent of whatever you are accused of you must still have representation to prove it. That means that even though you are innocent and in the right, it is going to take money to pay for a lawyer and other court costs even though you have not done anything wrong.
Since all it takes to sue someone at the very least is an accusation, no matter how outrageous, and the cost of filing with the court; many lawsuits that should not see the light of day are on the docket. So lets say your neighbor has nothing better to do than go down to the courthouse and file against you for feeding birds which led to his trees and boat getting bombarded(True case by the way, read it here), you must now come out of your pocket to pay lawyers fees and court costs.
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Comments (5)
Jenny Stewart11
Well the best thing to do would be for you to supervise the launch in person. Lunch is on me!
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
I will personally let you know when we cross the Atlantic!
Jenny Stewart11
Me too. When is your programme becoming available in Europe - more specifically in Spain!!!!
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
It is sad, what even sadder is the fact that innocent people are losing everything proving their innocence. I'm glad that I have a way to help people with that.
Jenny Stewart11
Here in Europe, especially in Spain where I live, the courts still take a dim view of frivolous complaints - thank heavens - but we are going the way of the States, little by little.
It is sad that a system set up to give everyone the right to defend themselves legally,and not justs the privileged, has turned into a circus - where the only real winners are the attorneys.
It is just another case of a lack of common sense in our society.