I would be more inclined to befriend someone who did time for murder than befriend a litigious person. And by ‘litigious’ I mean excessively so. That is, we’re talking about the sort of person who sues you if your child rides their bike across their front yard, or sues you for harassment or discrimination if you merely get into an argument, or sues for intentional infliction of emotional distress if they’re criticized in any way…you get the picture.
Have you ever been on the receiving end of a frivolous lawsuit?
What I’m really trying to figure out is what makes this type of person tick? Why do they engage in this type of behavior and what ultimately do they hope to achieve by it?
Luckily, you’re not likely to run into such a person. They are so rare that you might as well say they don’t exist. (yes, some do exist, but they’re probably mentally ill)
I personally did not encounter such an individual, but my SO (who is an attorney) was telling me about her dealings with one recently - which is what prompted the question.
Encountering people who threaten to litigate over bs is not uncommon, but I suppose the ones who actually do go through with it are more rare.
While I don’t personally know someone like that, I was affected by someone who seemed to take the shotgun approach to suing. My daughter’s pediatrician was listed as the pediatrician on call the night a woman gave birth with a less-than-perfect outcome. I don’t know the details, but she sued everyone whose name was remotely associated with the OB ward that night, including this doctor, who was never called in and never saw her or her baby. When all the dust settled and he was cleared (duh!) he decided to move his practice elsewhere, and I had to find another doctor.
The newspapers went out of their way to report he was being sued, but they’d lost interest when he was cleared and couldn’t be bothered to mention it.
Years ago, I met a guy at my workplace who apparently spends an inordinate amount of time filing complaints against NYC taxis and then going through the entire hearing process. I hate cabbies as much as anyone but to me, filing complaints for every perceived slight and then actually going through the entire bureaucratic process of hearings and paperwork to gain some measure of satisfaction against what is probably an immigrant making close to minimum wage seems unnecessary petty, spiteful, narcissistic and compulsive.
Hell, I find it annoying to be forced to rate Uber drivers after each ride.
A lot of people are motivated by power. And the ability to work the system to annoy and aggravate people is a form of power.
I was actually just reading about some Ukrainian guy in Indiana who spends most of his time filing frivolous cases. In spite of what people may believe, the court system isn’t stupid or powerless. There are often consequences for filing excessive litigation and frivolous lawsuits.
These people perceive the slightest thing as being a horrendous personal attack against them.
I once left the office on time on the 5th of the month. Because I wasn’t there when a woman came to pay her rent 45 minutes later, she sued me for her 5% late fee and the “emotional distress” of having her perfect rent paying record destroyed.
This. I suspect that hyper-litigious people harbor general animosity toward others and want to exercise their ability to hurt them with the full force of law on their side. They’re not willing to punch you in the face and do time or pay a fine (or risk being counterpunched in their own face), but they are willing to take the time to pursue legal action if there’s anything that can be used for justification. It’s a safe (if time-consuming and mind-consuming) way for them to cause misery for others, even if it doesn’t result in a windfall/payday for them.
Old Frankland in The Hound of the Baskervilles filed lawsuits for recreation (he had seven going at one time). Though fictional, he has counterparts in modern society.
There are prison inmates who sue frequently as a pastime and to irritate authority.
There do seem to be people involved in numerous civil actions who are not quite all there. A far-left fringe newspaper in the area recently chronicled the case of an “activist” placed in temporary mental health detention because she dared to Fight The Power, though on Googling her activities, one marvels at the extent to which a slew of local agencies and government agents were doggedly involved in nefarious persecution of this poor individual. :dubious:
I was wondering if this thread was prompted by Axl Rose. There are current news reports about him suing Google and a photographer over online photos of him that he doesn’t like. The article noted that Rose currently has twenty-nine separate lawsuits in progress against various people.
Of my 250 or so family court cases, I have a half dozen frivolous litigants. Before filing any new motions, they have to present their case to a judge and the judge decides whether the motion can be pursued.
IME, their primary motivation is to tie the other person up in court, make the other party spend money on attorney fees, and generally be an irritant to all. I wish I could write about some of the motions people have filed - I swear, if people spent as much time using their power for good instead of petty evil crap, this world would be a much better place.
I know, not in the spirit of the thread, but lets remember: there really are legitimate cases out there & people who, w/o a plaintiff filing, would (almost) get away with murder.
A nutter built and sold a portable sawmill. It wasn’t so good at milling limber, but was pretty good at lacerating. He was sued, but his lawyer managed to successfully defend him.
His lawyer sent him a modest bill, but the nutter refused to pay. His lawyer sued him, won, and seized his old tractor which was worth only a few thousand dollars.
Nothing happened for several years, until the nutter sued his lawyer and made some rather whacky allegations against many other lawyers in town, and all the judges in the region, and the “High Commissioner of the International Court of Justice”.
His lawyer hired me to defend against the nutter. Since the tractor was of so little value, the case started in Small Claims Court. I won. He appealed to Superior Court. I won. He appealed to Divisional Court. I won. He appealed to the Court of Appeal. I won. He appealed to the Divisional Court again (although I have no idea what grounds made that possible). I won. Along the way, I kept winning costs against him for the defendant lawyer.
Then he sued me personally along with several other lawyers. I won, with a costs award that had him making payments to me for years.
His brother was so embarrassed by all this that he has given me several sets of high-end race skis.
Security for costs and costs are the way to deal with nutters.
There are people like Trump who play the system, they know it’s a no limit game of poker and they’ll win because they have more money than the other guy.
There are the people that Annie-Xmas brought up, looking to avenge a personal slight in the courtroom, and often losing.
These days there also people who just want to be on a TV court show.
I’ve been reading up on the OPCA types lately. The people who have to deal with them say there is very definitely a nexus of mental illness, personal tragedy, and straight-up narcissism that leads to frivolous litigation. I perceive it the same way I see anyone in a position of petty authority… They found something that gives them the merest sliver of power and validation and they are damn well going to use it.
The lottery mentality. Sure, 99 lawsuits may fail, but if the 100th lawsuits nets a damages-payday of ten million bucks, then it was all worth it - to such a plaintiff.