Another Frivolous Lawsuit

KISS bassist is being sued by a couple claiming he assaulted them as they videotaped him at a Mall in California.
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I am not a KISS fan.  Their Dr. Pepper commercial scares my son and quite frankly is a bit disturbing in its own peculiar way.  What brings this to my attention is the freedom with which the public thinks they can approach celebrities.  The freedom the public takes in speaking with celebrities. The couple approaches a rock and roll icon, with all that entails, and asks him his view on monogamy?  Is this a question they pose to all strangers they encounter? Is this their business? Is it not enough that you likely began video-taping him without his permission? 

And even with that video-taping and provocation, he stated get your shot and go.  According to the ‘oh-so-innocent’ couple, he then grabs the camera. That doesn’t jibe with his statement of ‘get your shot and go’ which is what the couple stated occurred.  SO what’s missing?  Between get your shot and lunging, something was said that the couple is conveniently leaving out.

25 grand isn’t the largest frivolous suit we’ve seen.  But I think the following law should be passed.  If you file a civil lawsuit, and lose, you should be fined.  It serves as a deterrence to the ‘I’ll sue mindset’ as well as help to recoup some of the administrative costs of conducting the trial.  This way litigants will need to think ‘Can I afford to lose?’

A Rose is still a Rose

Or hydrangea, whatever.  A bride in New York is suing her florist because the colors she thought she was getting for her ever important day were not the color she desired.  Apparently she wanted rust and got pastel.  Now she believes the florist owes her 400,000 dolares for 27,000 dolares worth of flowers.  Nearly 16 times the value!  

Let’s take a step back.  First and foremost, she should be punished for spending 27 grand on flowers.  Don’t care what the occasion is, that’s preposterous.  Second, I noticed how the article said the bride was suing, not the couple.  Ol’ boy is probably like a lot of grooms out there.  He’s thinking ‘Honey, they’re just flowers…’  Lastly, I can’t imagine 27 grand worth of flowers were delivered ‘just in time’ for the nuptials.  Did she not take the time to verify the color of the flowers before her big day?

And I think lawsuits should be itemized.  Tell the court and the public exactly how you were hurt by flower color discrepancy (never thought I’d type those words) to the tune of 400 grand? 

Teen Suing Myspace

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A 14-year-old girl who says she was sexually assaulted by another user of MySpace.com sued the social networking Web site Monday, claiming it does not take sufficient steps to protect underage members.

Welcome the newest addition to frivolous lawsuits. Apparently, this teen and her mother think the website is responsible for underage girls looking for love and passing out their phone numbers to folks they’ve never met on the internet. They claim that MySpace does not protect minors.

MySpace didn’t force this girl to pass on her number to a stranger. In fact, for a sexual assault to occur, this girl had to take initiative to either tell this sicko a) where she lived, or b) where to meet her. In no way, am I implying that this is her fault but….

Frivolous Lawsuits

Every day there is another civil lawsuit. Somebody wanting an inordinate amount of money for what usually is a minuscule wrong, if a wrong has even occurred.

I am here to provide my two cents about how this has gotten out of control. You want to know why healthcare is a sham in this country, a big part of it is the malpractice insurance healthcare providers have to carry to protect themselves from those who wish to profit on death and illness of loved ones. Though the United States still touts itself as a land of opportunity, that opportunity is coming more and more in the form of litigation opportunities. When can I sue someone? How can I get a rich person or entity to do me just wrong enough so I’ll be set for the rest of my life?

What makes a lawsuit frivolous? In my opinion, it comes down to a couple of things. The amount of money being sued for (in particular the purely subjective punitive damages), the cause for the lawsuit (the actual incident), and the consequences requiring such large payouts (the ever useful emotional distress etc). If the combination of these things leads to too much money for subjective consequences based on a relatively little incident, we got ourselves a frivolous lawsuit.

In our first installment, we have an Iraq war veteran suing Michael Moore for 75 million dollars for emotional distress and loss of reputation…..oh and his wife suing for 10 million additional dollars for emotional distress to her husband. Sgt. Peter Damon states his feelings were hurt (not his words, but that’s what it amounts to) when Michael Moore took a snippett of a quote Damon made and used it for his own purposes in Fahrenheit 9/11. Just to get this straight, the things he said were used out of context. And this out-of-context use caused him 75 MILLION dollars worth of reputation loss and emotional distress. Now, if he were to win the money, his reputation would be able to recover as well as his emotional well-being. I’m sure every day, a stranger walks up to him and comments on his ‘cameo’ in Moore’s film. Now to be fair, I do believe that his comments may have been used out of context and he deserves to let that be known. And maybe a $25000 settlement should come his way. Or better yet, as so many involved in frivolous lawsuits say it’s the principle of the matter, perhaps the money should be sent to a charity of Damon’s choosing. But 75 million is excessive. And the fact that his wife is suing in a separate lawsuit for, as the article states, because of emotional distress to her husband (not herself) makes this a prime example of what this category will be about.