Frivolous Lawsuits

"The lawsuit culture is even changing the 

traditional American landscape..." (1)

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          Frivolous lawsuits are an ideal example of how scapegoating has affected our society today. It is unfortunate enough when people don’t take responsibility for their actions, but when they also go so far as to legally blame someone else, they are exploiting the court system and taking advantage of the lack of expectations of others. This increase in frivolous lawsuits is in direct correlation to the overall lack of responsibility that is being shown by the population today. The reality of frivolous lawsuits is the fact that they are actually damaging to the court system and to society. This can be unequivocally shown through the implementation of the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2004 which was introduced into the House in order to decrease these harmful cases. The only reason we, as a country would need to introduce such an act would be if these cases had grown out of control. This Act shows how harmful lawsuits affect and hurt many parts of society. According to the Act, “frivolous litigation has a corrosive effect on American culture and values, threatening America’s churches, schools, doctors, sports, playgrounds, friendly relations, and even the girl scouts and other family institutions.” (1) Every aspect of life can be hurt through this simple lack of responsibility.

          Obviously lawsuits are appropriate in some circumstances. They can be used correctly when the victims have a strong, valid case against another person or group. The problem is, though, that society has abandoned the definition of a valid case for one that is much more general. Today, most people think that it’s alright to try to take advantage of people and the system in place to try to get rid of their blame and responsibility and instead, be rewarded. 

"This values crisis caused by lawsuit abuse reaches all parts of American society..." (1)

Here are some of the areas that are affected through the abuse of these lawsuits:

Our Legal System
          Our court systems have become completely backed up with these unneeded lawsuits. As a result, people who actually have legitimate claims can have to wait years before their cases are considered. It takes at least a year to settle a lawsuit. Delays are not uncommon though, sometimes making each case last up to five years (2).

Healthcare Industry
          These lawsuits have a major affect on the healthcare industry especially. The cost of these lawsuits is passed onto consumers in America at about $721 per person every year. (2) Many doctors practice their professions in fear of litigation. They have to order more tests for every patient than they could possibly need because of this fear alone. According to a recent press release, “an estimated $50 billion per year is spent on unnecessary test procedures designed only to guard doctors and hospitals against malpractice claims.” (2) Also, many doctors won’t prescribe some medications because they know that the medicines are involved with litigation. (2) Unfortunately some people think that suing is the only way to put a check on our doctors and the healthcare system, but there are other options. First we have to realize that doctors are certified professionals and have had many years of rigorous schooling to learn to accomplish their job correctly. They still do make mistakes like everyone, but not to the extent that they are being sued. What it comes down to is not the fact that doctors shouldn’t be sued at all, but that people should mature and realize what is considered a frivolous claim against a doctor. I am not advocating that there should be no option to sue, but instead that the option can not be taken lightly. Is it really worth endangering our own healthcare for this unworthy litigation?

          In one case, a doctor was involved with a patient in the intensive care unit of the hospital. Although she was only with the patient for about 15 minutes before he died from cardiovascular disease and diabetes, she was sued by the patients family. (6)

          Even though some lawsuits are dropped before they are decide, and some are settled out of court, this still leads to high financial costs for those involved. For example, in the case mentioned above, the doctor was sued two other times and the cases were dropped, but she still incurred a significant level of financial damage. (6)

Schools
          The basic foundation for success in life, a good education, is also affected by frivolous lawsuits. Schools seem to be a breeding ground for litigation. There was once a time when teachers taught with a passion and love for the budding intelligence of their students. Now the pure enjoyment of the job as well as the use of good judgment is getting overshadowed by fear of litigation. As said by the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2004, “thanks to judicial rulings and laws over the past four decades, parents can sue if their kids are suspended for even a single day--for any reason--without adequate `due process.'” (1) There is also the variable of the cost of litigation to the schools themselves. There is a significant cost associated with frivolous lawsuits to schools today. (3) The Act also brings up the fact that, “large school districts routinely spend thousands of dollars each year on attorneys. The most common expenses are for student expulsion hearings and employee discipline.” (1) A remarkable eight out of ten teachers have encountered students that are quick to remind them that they have rights and their parents can sue if the teacher does something they don’t like. (1) This creates a loophole for students to get away with bad behavior with no discipline or consequences. Even children as young as first grade and kindergarten are creating trouble for teachers. One article about this age of children also says that “teachers are reluctant to take charge of such classes.” (8)

          A prime example of a case against a school system is an ironic story concerning Columbine High School. The parents of one of the gunman, Dylan Klebold sued the school for not preventing her child from murdering his peers. (7) How was the school responsible for this type of action? The parents needed to take on the responsibility of their son’s upbringing and his actions.

Sports
          Even our favorite pastimes are being struck with absurd lawsuits. There are so many examples of lawsuits in the court system right now that are the epitome of what frivolous lawsuits are all about. In one example, a little league player was swinging a bat and accidentally hit another player. The parents of the injured child sued both the boy who hit their son, and the whole league. This shows an obvious need of these parents to blame others just for the fact of blaming them, even though accidents like these happen often.

          Not only are little league teams at risk, but the pro-leagues are as well. There is a case where a fan sued because he was struck in the face with one of the free t-shirts that are thrown out to the fans. He claims that “getting struck by a foul ball may be a risk that baseball spectators assume, getting struck by a flying T-shirt is not.” Another absurd case took place when one set of parents went so far as to sue a coach of their son’s team because they didn’t have a winning season. (4) Sports all over have these same problems with what used to be considered accidents, turning into legal issues. The problems aren’t even affected by whether the cases were won or not, but instead by the fact that these people feel the need to sue for reasons that are trivial, making them irresponsible.

Effects on Children and Families
          The effects of these frivolous lawsuits are habitual patterns of irresponsibility and lack of accountability. Children are learning from their environment that it’s okay not to take the blame for what you do: it can always be someone else’s fault. Parents are teaching their kids this type of mentality by their example. According to Dr. Robert Needlman there is a simple but powerful message for parents everywhere, “Young children need warmth from their parents, but they also need limits and expectations.” (9) Children need this discipline to teach them responsibility. Parents as well as schools are starting, by default, to create under-disciplined lives for these children and young adults. (1) American culture in general is earning a bad reputation as one that is made up of people who don’t have responsibility. The traditional family unit consisting of strong role models teaching their children life’s lessons is crumbling, allowing for a less disciplined environment causing this mentality to start.

"Frivolous Lawsuits against innocent victims have become commonplace..." (1)

          It seems that this entire concept of lack of responsibility and scapegoating is being shown through these frivolous lawsuits that have become a trend recently. The only way to put an end to this onslaught of litigation is to change the mindset of the people who are involved. This is obviously not an easy task; actually, almost an impossible one. Therefore, the only obtainable way to stop this problem is to worry about changing yourself, and maybe, after that, one person at a time. This starts with your kids, parents, siblings, etc. We all have to power to affect others in our life and by simply teaching those that we care for how to take responsibility for their actions, we can reverse this problematic trend.

REFERENCES:

1. United States. Cong. House. 108th Congress, 2nd Session. 108-682 Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2004. [introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives; 13 September 2004]. 108th Congress. Congressional Bills, GPO Access. 2 Dec. 2004. <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/0?&&dbname=cp1088&&db_id=cp108&&r_n=hr682.108&&sel=DOC&>.

 2. Robert, Terry. "Are Frivolous Lawsuits Driving Up Healthcare Costs?" 22 Nov. 2003. About. 2 Dec. 2004. http://headaches.about.com/cs/advocacy/a/lamus_cala.htm 

3. Enzi, Mike. "Statement of Sen. Enzi on Attorney's Fees." 12 May 2004. Senator Mike Enzi: Wyoming. 2 Dec. 2004. <http://enzi.senate.gov/idea.htm>. 

4. " Just in Time for Spring Training: Starting Line-up of Baseballs Looniest Lawsuits." The CALA Watchdog. 12 March 2001. CACL. 2 Dec. 2004.  <http://www.sdcala.org/Newsroom/News011.html>. 

5. "frivolous." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 4th Ed. Dictonary.com. 11 Dec. 2004. <http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=frivolous>.

6. Albert, Tanya. "Ohio Physicians Fight Back: Panel Documents Frivolous Lawsuits." amednews.com. 16 Feb. 2004. American Medical Association. <http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/02/16/prl10216.htm>.

7."Best of the Bizarre for 1999." Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA). 11 Dec. 2004. <http://www.calahouston.org/best.html>.

8.Sueyoshi, Kotaro. "Schools Battle Bad Behavior of First Graders." 17 May 2004. The Daily Yomiuri. 11 Dec. 2004. <http://www.crnjapan.com/articles/en/20040517-dy_firstgraderbadbehavior.html>.

9. Needleman, Robert, M.D. "Parenting Types and Their Effects on Children." 26 Aug. 2004. The Dr. Spock Company. 11 Dec. 2004. <http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,5913,00.html>.

Source of Graphic: http://www.depts.ttu.edu/studentmediationcenter/

Article written by Joanna Gruber. Last edited December 14, 2004

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