Ben Means Business

Is it just me or is this world becoming increasingly obsessed with lawsuits? It is getting to the point that "tort exploitation" can almost be categorized as a business industry. It always interests me to see the things that people sue for these days. Even more interesting, is the fact that our judicial system often justifies these ridiculous cases by awarding money to every customer with a complaint. What happened to the days when you would just not visit a particular store anymore if you didn't like the product or service? Those days are obviously long gone.

I'm tired of shewing the neighborhood kids away from the large field on our church grounds because of fear that they could sue the church if injured. It's ridiculous! This should be simple: If you injure yourself while playing on someone elses grounds, it's your own fault and you should probably not play there again. When I was younger, we played sports on any field we could find. If we got hurt, we got a band aid or some stitches and went out to play the next day.

However, that is not the case anymore. Companies have to be extremely careful now because people will take advantage of any opportunity to sue. Did you know that Wal-Mart is sued at least once every two hours? And What is the world coming to when a dry cleaners can be sued for $65 million for misplacing a pair of pants? The kicker is that they actually found the pants and tried to return them but the guy wouldn't accept them. The dry cleaners offered$12,000 to settle out of court and the plaintiff refused! You know why he refused? Because he knows that he'll be awarded a higher amount through some ambiguous precept in our wonderful judicial system.

Every time somebody wins one of these lawsuits, we move closer to losing something that we have become accustomed to. Almost every coffee shop in the nation was serving cooler coffee because of the infamous McDonald's suit. I mean, it's coffee. Everybody that walks in the door wants it hot. Blow it...or wait to drink it for Pete's sakes. I can kind of sympathize with the lady that sued McDonald's because it actually burned her skin(and because she was elderly). Maybe that was dangerously hot coffee. But the fact remains that she spilled the coffee and not the company.

A lot of people contend that McDonald's knowingly served dangerously hot coffee and therefore should be liable. Ooook fine...BUT.....Can I now sue Crisco if I spill cooking oil on myself? Or Bruce Foods for the consequences of spilling their hot sauce in my eye? And who do I sue if I spill a pot of boiling water on myself? JEA or the manufacturer of the pot? Hey, maybe I should just sue both, I'll probably get more money.

My point is that any system in which people can hold someone else accountable for the consequences of their own actions is terribly flawed. I believe that, in most instances, common sense needs to be the only legal principle applied. If common sense prevails in our judicial system, maybe it will start to trickle down to everything else in this country. If you want to see more of these crazy lawsuits, visit the Power of Attorneys website. There are some pretty humorous cases there. Leave your comments...