# How does a sue-happy culture help human-friendly society? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 11, 2014, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153 "2014-09-11T09:09:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aatayyab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7feea3/32.png) [@aatayyab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aatayyab)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153/1 "2014-09-11T09:09:51Z")
How does the right and ability to sue anyone, anywhere, for any (sometimes even stupid) reason become the biggest hurdle in achieving nice, courteous and a human-friendly society vision? Some of those millions of prisoners won’t be locked up if we could have real and effective laws that discourage such a sue-happy culture. Even though unrelated, but there’s a movie “Falling Down” which pretty much narrates a common man’s frustration that can easily turn violent. :smack: What do you think? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153/2 "2014-09-11T10:01:00Z")
You ask how it achieves that goal. But that’s not a fair question. You should first ask IF it achieves that goal, and then, if you decided that it does, then you can ask how that works. Personally, I think that one can argue about whether or not the sue-happy culture benefits society as a whole, but it persists because it certainly benefits the plaintiffs and their lawyers (when they win). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153/3 "2014-09-11T11:26:08Z")
Nobody (at least in the US) becomes “locked up” as a result of a lawsuit. So first off decide whether you’re talking about civil lawsuits or criminal prosecutions. Then you can begin to follow **Keeve** ’s advice. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153/4 "2014-09-11T12:01:25Z")
> [@aatayyab](#): > > How does the right and ability to sue anyone, anywhere, for any (sometimes even stupid) reason become the biggest hurdle in achieving nice, courteous and a human-friendly society vision? Is this supposed to be some sort of hypothetical society? Because you’re not describing the US in the present day. You can’t just sue anyone, anywhere, for any reason. Don’t believe me? Try filing a suit against a random name in the phone book. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153/5 "2014-09-11T12:06:33Z")
> [@aatayyab](#): > > How does the right and ability to sue anyone, anywhere, for any (sometimes even stupid) reason become the biggest hurdle in achieving nice, courteous and a human-friendly society vision? Some of those millions of prisoners won’t be locked up if we could have real and effective laws that discourage such a sue-happy culture. Even though unrelated, but there’s a movie “Falling Down” which pretty much narrates a common man’s frustration that can easily turn violent. :smack: > > What do you think? 😕 What I think is that not a word of the OP makes any sense. Do you know what a lawsuit is? It’s a civilized way to settle a dispute between two people with a disinterested arbitrator applying a set of rules originating in and approved by our democratic system. Do you know what a society without lawsuits is? It’s a society in which people use “self help,” meaning intimidation, threats, force, violence, or other strong-arm means. Which society is more “human-friendly”? What makes you think “Falling Down” has anything to do with lawsuits? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153/6 "2014-09-11T13:45:00Z")
For anyone unfamiliar with the film, _Falling Down_ is a movie where Michael Douglas goes on a killing spree across LA and has nothing to do with lawsuits, or even with the legal system. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You can’t just sue anyone, anywhere, for any reason. Sure you can. You’ll lose, and wind up paying the other party’s costs and possibly even their attorney’s fees, but you _can_ sue anyone you like. > [@Acsenray](#): > > Do you know what a lawsuit is? It’s a civilized way to settle a dispute between two people with a disinterested arbitrator applying a set of rules originating in and approved by our democratic system. > > Do you know what a society without lawsuits is? It’s a society in which people use “self help,” meaning intimidation, threats, force, violence, or other strong-arm means. This. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153/7 "2014-09-11T14:03:18Z")
Since the OP is seeking opionions, let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153/8 "2014-09-11T15:20:08Z")
What are the odds that the OP returns? ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153/9 "2014-09-11T15:48:31Z")
> [@aatayyab](#): > > How does the right and ability to sue anyone, anywhere, for any (sometimes even stupid) reason become the biggest hurdle in achieving nice, courteous and a human-friendly society vision? Some of those millions of prisoners won’t be locked up if we could have real and effective laws that discourage such a sue-happy culture. Even though unrelated, but there’s a movie “Falling Down” which pretty much narrates a common man’s frustration that can easily turn violent. :smack: > > What do you think? 😕 Translation - someone is suing me and I want to shoot them. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153/10 "2014-09-11T15:55:35Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > What are the odds that the OP returns? And can we sue him for wasting our time? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153/11 "2014-09-11T15:56:25Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > What I think is that not a word of the OP makes any sense. /thread ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-sue-happy-culture-help-human-friendly-society/698153/12 "2014-09-11T18:54:56Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Translation - someone is suing me and I want to shoot them. 'zactly.