> As a lifelong citizen of the US, I am concerned about the > deteriorating trend that is destroying the dignity and integrity of [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > destroy honest businesses and their reputations, and rewards this > sadistic behavior with a monetary payoff. Our legal system provides a way for "victims" of injudicious and frivolous lawsuits to seek redress. It is equally as flawed as the original lawsuit itself in that it shares the problem of a seeking redress against damages from a defendant with empty or shallow pocket. It is still better than the uncivilized alternative which tort reformers in their shallow view fail to adress. It isn't perfect, but people that share your hopeless view of the tort system do so usually because they were either forced to pay a high price for what a jury deemed a wrong they did that they do not recognize as a wrong, or one of the mob that stimulates their adrenals by listening to a talk radio show that exites the sedentary personality into a minor proactive one---that is to say the radio voice is capable of moving the couch potato from the couch to the phone to call in a radio show, write an article for a newsgroup, or discuss it agitatedly over church or beer!
The former has had his day in court; the jury has spoken. The later usually makes up his "judicial mind" from ten minutes of detail and fact as recited to him by a talk radio jock. The later has not the same quality of fact to deal with as the jury they are second guessing. I am sickened by the superficial readiness of both of these growing types of people to do away with the flawed system we have without thinking of the consequences. The flawed system of common law we have was developed over hundreds of years to prevent the injured from enforcing his own standards of redress. Cherokee, one of my many American cultures, did not have common law. The ancient Cherokee relied upon Blood Law for redress. Revenge might be the better word. Without a flawed tort system with juries to decide....the alternative would be man to man where might makes right. I promise you it is far a better thing to be on the wrong side of a tort court decision than to be on the wrong side of a Blood Law obligation. Under Blood Law your entire family would have to answer to the perceived victim's entire family for as long as it took to get justice..........or revenge....whichever word you prefer!
Laws and systems of laws don't just appear out of a vaccuum. They are compromises made over time by process as decided by the whole where the individual surrenders some of his personal perogative for action in exchange for the contract to live among the group.
> The lawyers and judges in this country (with the exception of a very > few who are courageous enough to stand strong on their convictions), [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > coarse, on occasion, there are legitimate causes, but the epidemic of > sue happy litigators has reached a level of pure insanity. Many in Texas think as you do....but they are mistaken. Many in Texas think the high cost of medicine is due to the cost of mal practise lawsuit awards. 98% of all medical-malpractise lawsuits in Texas end with a judgment for the defendant. That means all those insane suits that you talk about are funded by lawyers who have to try 100 cases to win two. The cost of a medical malpractise lawsuit for a plantiff runs from $50,000 to $350,000 dollars. I know of a couple of established attorneys who were wiped out completely funding a case they thought would win............but did not. These were cases that had every right to win, but the jury pool was made up of people likeminded to yourself that just could not believe that a friendly Doctor could really sew up someone's chest with gauge still inside to leave infections that caused three more operations to no avail until the patient finally went to a third doctor who found the infected gauze. The plaintiff lost and the attorney, you will be pleased to know, went into domestic law helping people get divorces.
> For example, NJ State Attorney General, Peter Harvey's is suing Nissan > for producing cars with headlights that thieves find enticing to > steal. You are quite smug in your quick statement of the facts. Can you admit that such a quick statement calls for a quick judgment without the real facts. Any judgment made upon your statement would indicate the shallow mind that is inadequate to examine such issues at all. Virtually everyone that reads this post will know that the above is not the only facts of this case. Therefore, your statement is meaningless and belongs on talk radio...........or right here on the newsgroup, but has no merit worth consideration by serious people.
> Or how about a federal judge ordering WalMart to pay $16 million for > selling a shotgun that was used in a murder. I may be crazy, but [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > justice in this? Have we evolved into a breed of humans that are too > stupid to be responsible for our own choices and actions? Go ahead, make it virtually impossible for one man to sue another. That is a step back to the old west. We knew how to handle these things here in Texas. My wife's great grandfather had a long running dispute with his French neighbor. One day as he was choping the head off a chicken the neighbor came out to gripe as he did often. (They had no small claims court in those days). The Frenchman had his hand on the fence post and was steadily giving my wife's grandfather a dressing down. He didn't talk much. He didn't say a word. When he had heard all he wanted to hear, he just took the hand axe he used on the chicken and chopped of two of the Frenchman's fingers. The dispute was settled........no lawyers........no judge.....no jury!
> As the avalanche of lawsuits grows stronger and stronger the concern > for humanity becomes less and less. Do these subhumans that call [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > consciences? What will become of us if this self-destructing trend > continues? I'm with you! The tort system is only a fence that keeps us apart. I don't like the fence and neither do you. As soon as I finish killing this chicken.........I'll deal with it my own way. Go ahead and stand there with your hand on the post :-)
Just kidding........offered as something to think about. It really is just as simple as you present it...........and me. If you don't like the tort system we can go back to the old Blood Law ways if you want to. That is where we are headed, but don't say I didn't warn you! You might not like what you get.
Bin Laden didn't feel he could get a fair hearing in a court of law in the United States. The WTC is just an magnified example of what happens when people decide to settle things in their own way. People who perceive themselves as injured do not just walk away. Either they have a day in court or they find another way to get even. It is the nature of man that he will do these things. A flawed tort system is better than the alternative.
Randy R. Cox
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