America is known for being a country of laws. Founded on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the Congress writes laws, the executive branch executes them and the courts decide their legality, if the laws are challenged on Constitutional grounds.
Lawsuits are an important part of the way we change individual and group behavior to conform with existing law or sometimes by causing a change in law. Lawsuits can claim for all actual damages and can request that punitive damages be paid for pain and suffering which is often based on a multiple of the actual damages - usually three to four times that amount.
This system has worked pretty well over the years, but something has changed.
Lawsuits have become a way for survivors and relatives of victims of tragic events to sue for astronomical amounts, going after anyone or group with deep pockets.
The examples abound.
A family sued when their relative died of lung cancer about 10 years ago. He had smoked for 20 years even though the health risks were well known from the start. He tried but could not quit. Their claim was against the tobacco company for not only producing a product that injured the user’s health but for adding chemicals to the product to make it even harder to resist. The fact that millions of others had been able to quit this dangerous habit over that 20-year period was apparently not an issue. The fact was that this smoker couldn’t.
A jury of their peers, apparently outraged that the company had added ingredients to make their product more irresistible, awarded the family almost $24 billion (that’s with a “b”). That would have made the survivors billionaires and some of the richest people in America - all because their loved one couldn’t quit smoking. The award was immediately thrown out on appeal and there was a confidential settlement. Perhaps it was like the one Kramer settled for from Starbuck’s on a Seinfeld episode. Kramer had spilled coffee on himself and wanted money. He settled for free coffee for life.
Recently, a former professional athlete was mistaken for a wanted criminal who happened to look very much like him. The officer tackled the victim hurting the athlete’s leg. The officer could have found a less invasive mode of arrest. The officer owes his victim an apology as does his department. The city should pay all related medical and rehabilitation costs if any. But that is not what this man is asking for and he has found a lawyer unashamed to sue for $150 million.
A group of about 100 mothers wanted to sue the makers of a birth control product. The company had noticed an error in their product’s 30 day row of pills. They warned customers at the time and issued a recall. Only one package was returned. Most of the users could clearly see the problem and simply turned the product around so the first row became the last row. Now, years later these 100 mothers sued the company saying that because of the error, they gave birth to children they hadn’t planned on and didn’t want to have to support. They wanted the company to pay all of the unwanted children’s expenses through college. Besides the fact that the problem was known and correctable from the start, there is no way to prove that these litigants used the product back then or that they used it according to instructions. In addition, while 90% of all U.S. women of childbearing age use contraception, 50% of all pregnancies are accidental. So apparently they don’t always work even when used properly.
A few years ago, a crazed young man attacked students at an elementary school and killed 20 children and seven adults using an assault rifle. The families have filed suit against the gun manufacturer for producing a weapon of such destructive force for non-military use. While not one of the many reports about this suit has mentioned the amount, it could be for hundreds of millions of dollars. The gun sale was legal, but the parents want the company to no longer be able to produce weapons that could kill innocent people, especially children.
A man with dual citizenship, returned from western Africa after contracting Ebola, a deadly virus. Upon his return to the States, he felt ill and went to the hospital for treatment. When asked where he had been, he failed to tell hospital staff that he had been in a country with a large Ebola contamination problem. The staff did not recognize his illness immediately and by the time they did, it was too late. He died after the staff risked their lives to save him. One of his nurses contracted the virus but was cured. The dead man’s family and the nurse who treated him sued. He should not have died from a cause he failed to reveal the source of and the nurse should have been protected from a disease that the staff was unaware of.
A very large, overweight woman described as having serious cognitive issues living here as an undocumented immigrant, tried to cross a busy highway. An officer rushed to save her from what could have been a fatal accident. The woman resisted his attempts and fought him. He subdued her but then began hitting back. This was caught on video. The officer was immediately fired. The woman was awarded millions of dollars and told that she would be exempt from future deportation.
A 6’5”, morbidly obese Staten Island man with a serious case of heart failure, diabetes and kidney insufficiency related to his massive size, resisted his third arrest after ignoring multiple warnings to cease his illegal street activity. He told officers that he had had enough of these arrests and would not cooperate. They tried to take him into custody. They grabbed him around the only part of his body they could get their arms around - his neck. He resisted and was last heard saying “I can’t breathe.” He died of a heart attack, a symptom of which is not being able to get air to the heart - one feels breathless.
The arresting officers were found not guilty in his death. The city’s mayor lamented the jury decision and sided with the deceased. He had the city pay the family $6.5 million for this predictable death.
A woman with a long history of alcoholism was at the county hospital for treatment of the effects of this condition. She left on her own, as she was entitled to do, and died while in the hospital’s emergency stairway. It was unclear why she went there and what she was doing in this restricted area. Her dead body was not found for a few days because the security guard did not include it in his rounds. The family sued saying that she should have not been able to get into this emergency stairway and the security officer should have found her dead body earlier. The city gave her foreign family $3.5 million.
It seems clear to me that suits have gone much too far. Attorneys, judges and juries have to say no to these egregious cases of tragic suits motivated more by greed than a need for justice. Perhaps, punitive damages should go into a victim fund instead, not to the litigants who should only get reimbursed for actual damages in order to be made whole.
Lawsuits are an important part of the way we change individual and group behavior to conform with existing law or sometimes by causing a change in law. Lawsuits can claim for all actual damages and can request that punitive damages be paid for pain and suffering which is often based on a multiple of the actual damages - usually three to four times that amount.
This system has worked pretty well over the years, but something has changed.
Lawsuits have become a way for survivors and relatives of victims of tragic events to sue for astronomical amounts, going after anyone or group with deep pockets.
The examples abound.
A family sued when their relative died of lung cancer about 10 years ago. He had smoked for 20 years even though the health risks were well known from the start. He tried but could not quit. Their claim was against the tobacco company for not only producing a product that injured the user’s health but for adding chemicals to the product to make it even harder to resist. The fact that millions of others had been able to quit this dangerous habit over that 20-year period was apparently not an issue. The fact was that this smoker couldn’t.
A jury of their peers, apparently outraged that the company had added ingredients to make their product more irresistible, awarded the family almost $24 billion (that’s with a “b”). That would have made the survivors billionaires and some of the richest people in America - all because their loved one couldn’t quit smoking. The award was immediately thrown out on appeal and there was a confidential settlement. Perhaps it was like the one Kramer settled for from Starbuck’s on a Seinfeld episode. Kramer had spilled coffee on himself and wanted money. He settled for free coffee for life.
Recently, a former professional athlete was mistaken for a wanted criminal who happened to look very much like him. The officer tackled the victim hurting the athlete’s leg. The officer could have found a less invasive mode of arrest. The officer owes his victim an apology as does his department. The city should pay all related medical and rehabilitation costs if any. But that is not what this man is asking for and he has found a lawyer unashamed to sue for $150 million.
A group of about 100 mothers wanted to sue the makers of a birth control product. The company had noticed an error in their product’s 30 day row of pills. They warned customers at the time and issued a recall. Only one package was returned. Most of the users could clearly see the problem and simply turned the product around so the first row became the last row. Now, years later these 100 mothers sued the company saying that because of the error, they gave birth to children they hadn’t planned on and didn’t want to have to support. They wanted the company to pay all of the unwanted children’s expenses through college. Besides the fact that the problem was known and correctable from the start, there is no way to prove that these litigants used the product back then or that they used it according to instructions. In addition, while 90% of all U.S. women of childbearing age use contraception, 50% of all pregnancies are accidental. So apparently they don’t always work even when used properly.
A few years ago, a crazed young man attacked students at an elementary school and killed 20 children and seven adults using an assault rifle. The families have filed suit against the gun manufacturer for producing a weapon of such destructive force for non-military use. While not one of the many reports about this suit has mentioned the amount, it could be for hundreds of millions of dollars. The gun sale was legal, but the parents want the company to no longer be able to produce weapons that could kill innocent people, especially children.
A man with dual citizenship, returned from western Africa after contracting Ebola, a deadly virus. Upon his return to the States, he felt ill and went to the hospital for treatment. When asked where he had been, he failed to tell hospital staff that he had been in a country with a large Ebola contamination problem. The staff did not recognize his illness immediately and by the time they did, it was too late. He died after the staff risked their lives to save him. One of his nurses contracted the virus but was cured. The dead man’s family and the nurse who treated him sued. He should not have died from a cause he failed to reveal the source of and the nurse should have been protected from a disease that the staff was unaware of.
A very large, overweight woman described as having serious cognitive issues living here as an undocumented immigrant, tried to cross a busy highway. An officer rushed to save her from what could have been a fatal accident. The woman resisted his attempts and fought him. He subdued her but then began hitting back. This was caught on video. The officer was immediately fired. The woman was awarded millions of dollars and told that she would be exempt from future deportation.
A 6’5”, morbidly obese Staten Island man with a serious case of heart failure, diabetes and kidney insufficiency related to his massive size, resisted his third arrest after ignoring multiple warnings to cease his illegal street activity. He told officers that he had had enough of these arrests and would not cooperate. They tried to take him into custody. They grabbed him around the only part of his body they could get their arms around - his neck. He resisted and was last heard saying “I can’t breathe.” He died of a heart attack, a symptom of which is not being able to get air to the heart - one feels breathless.
The arresting officers were found not guilty in his death. The city’s mayor lamented the jury decision and sided with the deceased. He had the city pay the family $6.5 million for this predictable death.
A woman with a long history of alcoholism was at the county hospital for treatment of the effects of this condition. She left on her own, as she was entitled to do, and died while in the hospital’s emergency stairway. It was unclear why she went there and what she was doing in this restricted area. Her dead body was not found for a few days because the security guard did not include it in his rounds. The family sued saying that she should have not been able to get into this emergency stairway and the security officer should have found her dead body earlier. The city gave her foreign family $3.5 million.
It seems clear to me that suits have gone much too far. Attorneys, judges and juries have to say no to these egregious cases of tragic suits motivated more by greed than a need for justice. Perhaps, punitive damages should go into a victim fund instead, not to the litigants who should only get reimbursed for actual damages in order to be made whole.
