Comment on There was a time when everyone had common sense
scytale@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
Isn’t this more of making sure to cover all bases in case someone gets an idea of doing something dumb so they can sue? Especially in the US because it’s the most litigious country in the world.
shalafi@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Litigation isn’t what you think. A local lawyer had a radio program where he explained our “sue happy” culture.
You only hear about crazy shit, because it’s crazy shit. How many people suicided on New Year’s Eve? Bet you can name at least one! Because blowing yourself up up in a Cybertruck, on New Year’s, in front of Trump Towers is crazy. Apply this to everything you see and read in the media.
Judges do not have to hear every bullshit case, plenty gets tossed. Most lawsuits have merit and are boring as paste.
Also, lawyers won’t take your stupid case to court. They’re happy to charge for time and advice, but they will not bring legal scat before a judge.
For one, they know these judges, have to work with them for years. Want to piss those judges off with frivolous bullshit? Retain a lawyer and go to court. He’ll tell you how to act before that particular judge.
For two, lawyers want to win, low risk tolerance. Think they’re taking every dumb case to court just for a paycheck? No, they have a reputation to think about. Who’s hiring a lawyer that loses all the time or has a rep for taking losing cases?
tl;dr: Neither judges nor lawyers are stupid and frivolous lawsuits are rare.
Oyml77@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
Only hearing about the crazy shit is the same reason Florida seems so crazy. “Sunshine Laws” in Florida mean arrest records are public information in Florida. A cottage industry has sprung up around scouring arrest records for ludicrous arrests or weird things that happened around them. It’s not that Florida is any more crazy than the rest of the country. We just hang our dirty laundry in the front lawn for everyone to see. Don’t believe that crazy ass shit isn’t happening in your neck of the woods, too.
That said, Florida is kind of crazy, though. At least some of it is imported crazy from other areas, though.
riskable@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
The problem isn’t the lawsuits it’s the cost. Litigating anything is prohibitively expensive. Nobody but the rich and business can afford that so what you end up with is some huge percentage of cases being settled out of court without anyone (other than the parties involved) knowing about it.
It’s a big reason why settlement figures and jury damage awards are rising… You have to pay for the lawyers!
…which is interesting because lawyer pay is actually dropping and has been for some time now. The biggest firms are collecting all the money and most of that is flowing to the top. So most lawyers are in the same boat as the rest of us where wages aren’t keeping pace with inflation so they’re getting poorer and poorer every year.
That’s happening despite the fact that litigation costs are rising. Something is severely broken in regards to the economics of our criminal and civil justice system.