Why is it that some people can't take responsibility for their own stupidity? I can't begin to imagine how much money our government has dumped into trying lawsuits that are seen as absolutely ridiculous by everyone except, and maybe even including, the person filing the suit. I wish my disgust for these cases stopped at the thought of my tax dollars paying for some people to exercise their ignorance, but unfortunately their presence in our society is far more irritating to me.
If you remember what perhaps could be considered the initial lawsuit that started our country's obsession with \frivolous"" lawsuits, McDonald's was ordered to pay over $2 million to a woman who burned herself after spilling coffee into her lap. This started a trend of putting warning labels on seemingly every single product that is manufactured for regular consumer use for fear of a lawsuit.
I think the increasing number of stupid lawsuits burdening our courts these days warrants the development of a new common sense law. Imagine how much better our country would be if we actually had to accept the responsibilities of our actions (as stupid as some of them might be), instead of pointing the finger immediately at somebody else in hopes of getting rich quick.
The bizarre assumption at the heart of this debate is that nothing is your fault. On the contrary, as long as a company has worked to make sure their product is safe for consumption at the time of purchase, how can the blame be placed on anyone except the end consumer? Granted, companies that sell products they know to be faulty or flawed should be held responsible for any damage done, but we should not need a warning label to tell us that coffee is hot.
I think the strongest argument for a common sense law in this country is the countless number of lawsuits against tobacco companies. Although I don't know for sure when warnings were placed on cigarette packages about the damage they might cause, it seems pretty obvious to me, and it should to you also, that inhaling smoke into my lungs for years on end is not going to improve my health. I always laugh when I hear about people claiming they didn't know smoking was bad for them, and that now they deserve millions of dollars because of their health condition.
As I mentioned earlier, the most disturbing thing about our country's sue-happy trend lies in the strange stupidity that seems to be engulfing our nation. I am embarrassed to think that I am of the same nationality of a person who would sue their school because they fell out of their fourth floor dormitory window while trying to ""moon"" somebody. While this foolishness just seems to be a joke to a lot of other people I talk to, it is greatly upsetting to me. Why doesn't this seem to bother anyone else?
A common sense law would end my sleepless nights spent wondering how somebody would make a mockery of our justice system for their own personal gain. I can't believe the ignorance and laziness of some people in this country, and it surprises me even further that most people are not offended or insulted by some of these things. We have created a society in which nobody is responsible for their actions, and anything that causes negative results is the fault of somebody else, usually somebody with lots of money, which should awaken us all to search for a solution to these lawsuits that are permeating our society and creating an absolute nuisance.
