Frivolous Lawsuits

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am not a big supporter of frivolous lawsuits. While I realize that what might be trivial to me can mean the world to someone else, some of these lawsuits are nothing more than paycheques for stupid people.

So, that said, about a nine months ago my husband slammed the door of a locomotive on his hand resulting in the loss of the tip of one of his fingers. He was off work for about four months while it healed. It has healed as well as can be expected and all in all, life goes on.

A few weeks ago the union approached him about suing the company regarding his accident. It is part of their plan to force the company to make working conditions safer for the employees.

Okay. Fine. I have no problem with the fact that this company needs to get serious about safety issues. There have been some pretty serious accidents at this company in the past five years that were clearly avoidable if only the company had better safety guidelines.

I do not, however, think Mr.Jawofech’s accident falls into this category. He grabbed the door by the side and slammed it shut, pulling it behind him as he entered the cab. He did not let go in time. I fail to see how this is the company’s fault. When I mentioned this the union rep said, “Yes, well, they possibly should have had safer instruments in place for this exact reason”. Hello? Safer Instruments? I looked at him like he was nuts and said “What like a * door handle!? * I think they have those already.”

The company has been settling out of court on almost all of the cases brought up against them so far. Frivolous or not, winnable or not, they seem to be settling.

I have made it clear to my husband that this is between him and his union and none of my business.
If it were up to me I would not sue on the grounds that the rest of the world should not have to babysit all the stupid people. If there are people out there who think a red plastic cape holds the key to flight, well, perhaps taking a dive off the rooftops playing superman is one of the nicest ways for them to contribute to society.

I just wondered what you would do? Not necessarily in the above scenario but just in general if you knew you were at fault, but could win a lawsuit resulting in money, would you sue?

2

I couldn’t sue anyone because of something that was my fault, anymore than I could rob them at gunpoint.

To me, robbing them at gunpoint seems more honorable.

3

Frivilous lawsuits are just plain wrong. Spooje likened them to armed robbery, and that’s not far from the truth.
A friend I had year ago when I was at school was embroiled in a bitter lawsuit against her former neighbours for more than the three years we were friends. Prior to my aquaintance with her, the neighbour’s dog had attacked my friend, and she was left with a small scar on her forehead, which subsequently removed by plastic surgery, leaving no trace. For this incident, they were claiming hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation. Additionally, the family that owned the dog were forced to move out of their home for the duration of the legal action against them. My friend and her parents were claiming that, as a result of the attack, she had a phobia of dogs, suffered migraines from scar tissue pushing on her brain, which in turn lead to her missing a lot of school, and therefore prevented her from entering the career of her choice. On top of that, there was all the usual jargon about pain and suffering. Well, l know for a fact that she had a pet dog - a doberman! - and her parents had dogs too. She never showed any sign of fear around them. She may have had headaches, I can’t comment on that, but she sure did miss a lot of school - we used to wag together. We would cut class and go down to the shops together. That’s why she missed so much school. She was never going to enter the career of her choice - she wasn’t that bright, and she didn’t attend school enough anyway! As for the pain and suffering - she probably did have some at the time of the attack, but there was never any sign of it in the time I knew her.
To the best of my knowledge (and my eternal disgust) they won their case, and I’ve always felt uneasy, like there was something I sould have done to help the people she sued. I don’t suppose I could have affected the outcome - her parents were masters at frivilous lawsuits, having each sued their former employers, they were living the high life on their payouts. Last I heard, they’d invested in a large home in a warmer part of the world. I hope their ill-gotten gains choke them.

I guess you could say I’m against it. Unless you’re suing because you are really affected by the incident, or feel very strongly about it, you’re taking something that’s not yours. My grandfather had the exact same accident you describe your husband having - chopped the top of his middle finger off in the loco door at work. To our surprise, it grew back!! I don’t believe anyone was ever sued over the incident :slight_smile:

4

My dad is the maintenance manager for a manufacturing company, and he was working on fixing a punch press when he did something really, really stupid: put his hand in the press. It was a calculated risk on his part; he knew full well there was a possibility that his hand would get flattened if he didn’t pull it out fast enough. Anyhoo, he played the odds, and crunch. Smashed all of his fingers. (He called my mom from the hospital that day and greeted her with, “Well, I guess you’ll be calling me ‘Lefty’ for a while”)

Later on, shortly after he had the bones re-assembled and set, the union lawyers anxiously approached him and asked him to sue the company. My folks fielded phone calls in this vein for a couple of weeks. Each time my dad refused, because he knew unequivocally it was his fault - he did a stupid thing, something he would never allow one of his assistants to do. Eventually even the company offered him a settlement against future lawsuits. Dad turned that down, too. I admire him for that (and lots of other stuff). I hope that, faced with similar circumstances, I would have the same conviction.

I really can’t fathom the rationalization people must go through when suing for things that are clearly no one’s fault or their own fault, even worse. Like that idiot McDonald’s coffee woman. What kind of people must they be that they feel it’s their right to steal?

5

The truth about the coffee lady

6

Thanks, coffeecat, for the link. I still don’t understand why any thinking person would put a cup of obviously hot coffee between her knees. Period. Perhaps this woman honestly felt she was wronged somehow (as opposed to taking advantage of an unfortunate situation) but I don’t see it that way.