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’Net Junkie Shawn "Speedy" Lopes |
Sites poke fun at
America’s silly lawsuitsWith more than 900,000 practicing lawyers and 10 million lawsuits filed each year in this country, it would seem America has gone litigation-happy. In a land where one can sue fast food chains for everything from the fat content of their products to the temperature of their beverages (for an in-depth examination of the infamous Mc- Donald's coffee case, log onto www.centerjd.org/free/mythbusters-free/MB_mcdonalds.htm), it would be difficult to discount the notion that we've gone off the deep end.
Of those millions of lawsuits, however, only 10 percent make it to a courtroom. It's no wonder, considering the number of frivolous claims that are filed every day. Your honor, I submit Exhibit A: www.power-of-attorneys.com, a Web site whose primary purpose is to "educate, enlighten and entertain our readers as we pitch our case for tort reform in America."
Click on "Stupid Lawsuits & Funny Stuff" for a long list of outrageous situations, including a tale about a fugitive who threatened to sue authorities in Maine for taking too long to apprehend him. He claims he lost his toes to frostbite while hiding in the woods as he tried to evade a sheriff's detective. "If he had done his job properly, I wouldn't be in this condition that I'm in right now," he said from a hospital. "I would have been in jail that same day."
A college student baring her breasts in public in New Orleans' French Quarter during Mardi Gras sued the producers of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series after they caught her on camera, lifting up her shirt. She felt exploited and violated, her lawyer said. Another collegian from the University of Idaho took action against his school after falling from a third-floor dorm window while mooning fellow students. He claimed the university did not provide students with adequate warning of the potential hazard.
Then there's the case of the California couple who took action against a local health club for loss of consortium and emotional distress. The man, it seems, began a romance with a woman he'd met over the Internet. The couple says he would not have found the time to cheat had he not been forced to stay home and heal his hand, which they claim, he injured at the health club.
Incredible to be sure, but as www.power-of-attorneys.com notes, "we don't have to make this stuff up."
’Net Junkie drops every Monday.
Contact Shawn "Speedy" Lopes at slopes@starbulletin.com.
Note: Web sites mentioned in this column were active at time of publication. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin neither endorses nor is responsible for their contents.
