Petty Lawsuits Essay, Research Paper

Are we Sueing for a Purpose?People today are not sueing to rectify matters. There is no purpose in lawsuits today. I believe everyone is out to get an easy buck through the judicial system. It is almost inevitable if people spill hot coffee on themselves that they will win a lawsuit against the company that served them that coffee. People believe that nothing is their fault and that someone (the defendant) should pay. The problem with the judicial system today is that people are sueing all the time and winning in court with ridiculous cases.

Take this case in North Carolina for instance. A Dallas couple is sueing Kmart for $23 million dollars because some Kmart employees harassed and accused the Dallas couple of going through their garbage. The employees were fired and the Dallas couple sued for $23 million. Fortunately the couple didn?t receive all that money, there is a state law capping punitive damages which forced the judge to reduce it to $250 thousand dollars.

The plaintiffs feel that they have been mistreated and that Kmart should reconcile with them by paying them off. The couple states at the end of court that ?they believe us. That the most important thing, they believe us.? Obviously that is not the most important thing to them for they are trying to appeal the state law which caps their $23 million. And if that?s not greedy enough, the week before the jury awarded them $18,985 in compensatory damages. So the couple was awarded $268,985 for being accused over something as petty as going through a stores trash.

Anyone can differentiate one fraudulent case from another. I understand that the Dallas couple is trying to clear their name from shame. But trying to appeal the already huge sum of money and going for more shows just how greedy these people really are. They got what they wanted, for the people to believe them. Everyone believes them now, and on top of that, they were awarded a nice some of money.

There are people out there who really do deserve some kind of compensation for negligence, harassment, or anything else that might have gone wrong. For example, a Gastonia man who already has enough appeal to pity has yet another problem to deal with. He is a paraplegic who awoke to find a rat eating at his leg to the bone. Due to his condition, he can?t feel the rat gnawing at his leg. The state Court of Appeals ruled that he can sue his landlord. Is this just? I believe so. Should he be compensated? I also think so. The living conditions in his apartment were not all that healthy to begin with and the Gastonia man repeatedly complained to the landlord about rats scratching at his walls.

There are numerous cases where people are constantly winning ridiculous suits that should in no way be compensated. For example, a person who spilt hot coffee on himself from McDonalds sued and won for 2 million dollars. Or another case where a thief broke into a store and dropped a television that he was stealing on his foot which caused him to be injured and get caught. He sued also and his case is still pending. There are so many petty excused as to why people think that they deserve money.

If people were not so blinded by the almighty dollar and stopped to realize what detrimental effects they could be causing to the company, the workers of the company and their families, they might reconsider sueing. If you sue a small family owned company for slipping on their wet floor and you did not get injured, hopefully you would stop and think that if you sue this company, you could cause them to go out of business, be broke and they could lose their home. There are so many factors as to why people should not sue all the time.

Overall, there are a lot of false cases or people who look for an accident waiting to happen and use it to their advantage. That is what I think Americans today are doing. They are trying to find the easiest scapegoat to get rich quick. It is unbelievable how many people today win ridiculous court cases and gets a large sum of money that they really do not deserve. I hope if something not so harmful happens to you, you will stop and think about what you are getting yourself and other people into.