Canada, perhaps?
Moving on…I’m not entirely sure what the big deal about the whole thing is, either. Big whoop, 37-year-old washed-up pop star let one of her little friends hang out at the halftime show. It’s not like nobody’s ever seen a boob before.
Funny how it’s fine to show heads rolling and blood spilling everywhere, but a boob pops out and it’s the end of the world. Oh well.
That would be undress, not redress
[sub]Yes, yes, I know … go with me here, dear;)[/sub]
I think I will walk by the bus stand tomorrow and wave my cock at the people sitting there. Why not? I’m sure they have all seen a cock before.
Ugh. I’m sorry. I just can’t get past the fact that the boy looks like he still needs his mother to sign a permission slip for him to go on tour.
Are you serious that you DON’T have a ‘loser pays’ court system in the US? :eek:
Civil actions here in Aus have costs awarded against the loser of the action…and as Jeevmon suggested, it certainly restricts access to justice to those who can afford to lose. For your average punter seeking redress, the case must be absolutely 100% watertight before he/she would even CONSIDER taking it to court for judgement, as the costs of losing are prohibitive.
It certainly diminishes the frivolous claims (unless they are initiated by someone with loads of cash) but it also prevents many otherwise meritorious claims from ever having their day in court.
Generally, U.S. civil actions are not “loser pays.” Each party bears their own fees and costs. There are some statutes (civil rights, patent) that provide that a prevailing plaintiff can recover attorneys’ fees, and some common law causes of action that provide the same. But the general preference is that the parties bear their own litigation costs, and it is particularly hard for defendants to recover their attorneys’ fees except in the case of truly frivolous claims.
Weirddave’s claim that existing bodies of law provide adequate protection against the “really outrageous stuff” misses the mark. Many of those bodies of law depend on private enforcement to really work. Civil rights is a good example. The Justice Department and EEOC can only investigate and prosecute so many cases at a time. A private cause of action exists to provide a vehicle for these laws, and the public policy behind them, to be enforced without having to burden the enforcement arms of the government.
Are you sure? I was under the impression that the judge could award costs, but wasn’t compelled to. Then again, I’m not certain.
Surely the best way to solve the problem is to encourage judges to award costs against frivolous lawsuits - that way, the courts remain accessable to all, but when this woman wastes the court’s time, she gets hit hard.
Sort of like a fine? “Jeez, lady, what turnip truck did you fall off of? $10,000 to the court, $10,000 to the defendents, case dismissed” sort of thing?
What about smacking around the lawyers who actually agree to represent the plaintiffs?
This thread’s already been done, and earlier: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=238268
Because it was an inappropriate time and place to flash a boob, I can certainly agree with some sort of civil penalty for the performers. But as such it should be somewhat like a traffic fine, in the sense that it should be enough to sting, but not destroy. I don’t think Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake deserve to be ruined for this stunt.
How this lawsuit fares will say a lot about the kind of culture we live in.
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What about smacking around the lawyers who actually agree to represent the plaintiffs?
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Doesn’t anyone get it The lawyers are the ones coming up with this crap !
There is 1 lawyer for every 300 people. Until we can get the blood-suckers to start suing each other and leave the rest of us alone, this will continue. (not all lawyers are blood-suckers but there are far too many of them.
Don’t look for the judges to penalize the lawyers for this kind of crap, remember, they are lawyers too and part of the same “fraternity”, and as for the laws, they are made by our congressional representatives (mostly lawyers).
Will no one grant me my pukey smiley?!
I believe lawyers who waste the court’s time can be in serious trouble, actually. I’ll wait for someone who actually knows to say so, but in other debates here I recall lawyers indicating that the punishment for frivolous claims can include removing the right to practice law.
“Loser pays” sounds like a great way to discourage corporate responsibility. Let’s not do that, k?
The fact that there’s a lawsuit in the first place says enough about the culture we live in. It says we’re headed down the crapper.
Well, the sight of Janet Jackson’s breast turned ME into a newt!
Everything I have ever read about bar associations indicate that they work very hard to see that lawyers are never punished for their infractions.
That link has already been done, and earlier. 
I believe this is indeed the case in Australia. Case in point, the guy in Victoria who decided to challenge a radar-based speeding offence. He was an expert in the field of radar, and he won the case against the Victoria Police. His three-figure fine was waived by the judge, but he was forced to pay A$18 000 in court costs (for being a smartarse).
As for the OP, I am speechless. I like America and Americans. I really do. I admire you guys. But… fuck, you’re weird sometimes.
I just wanna say that it’s not my fault I was born here. I’m trying my best to get out of this country of madmen. Anybody want to host an American ex-patriot? “Reality TV”, ignorance, fundamentalism, rampant lack of common sense, laws that allow us to never learn to think for ourselves, hypocrisy, and despotism make me sick.
From CNN.com:
The point being: I’m a fucking idiot.