Taking Us To The Cleaners

Two recent cases highlight how all of us are paying a high price for the culture of litigation over common sense which prevails in our culture.

First there is the case of former federal appeals court judge Robert Bork, made famous when the senate refused to confirm his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1987. Now is not the time to rehash the abuse of power by Senators, primarily though not exclusively Democrats, who politicize the confirmation process when their parties fail to elect official with the power to appoint judges more to their liking.

Bork is currently suing Yale University for an amount “in excess of $1,000,000.00” for damages, virtually all non-medical, sustained when he fell ascending the stage to which he was called in order to deliver a speech. Some have gone so far as to accuse Judge Bork of hypocrisy, given his past objections to the problem of juries “dispensing judgments in lottery-like windfalls”. While His Honor is certainly guilty of bad judgment here, he is not guilty of hypocrisy. His past objections were primarily focused on cases arising from cases arising from racial or gender driven discrimination, not physical injury.

The real problem with Judge Bork is his reliance on the courts and their financially punitive power as the best means to vent his rage at Yale University, something for which we all pay, whoever wins the case! Such lawsuits drive up the cost of insurance, which drives up the cost of education, which forces more students to go further into debt, etc. And that’s just for school. But what happens when that process affects health care? How many of us are paying insurance rates, doctors bills to cover those rates on their end, and taxes which cover Medicare payments, all in order to meet the rising cost of litigating every problem which people have with a doctor?

I am all for using the courts to redress grievances that people have with their physicians, with the people who make their cars, or even as in Robert Bork’s case, with those who have us in their homes without making sure that we are safe. But that does not mean that we need to reward people economically for damages that are not economic. If a doctor has truly harmed someone, then let’s punish the doctor, not reward the victim. If a car company has endangered the lives of American drivers, then punish the CEO.

Because it’s easier to allow juries to spend money which they think is not their own than to really punish those who we genuinely believe have done something wrong, we perpetuate a system that hurts us all. It’s not unlike rewarding my kids for whining by handing them whatever it is they want instead of figuring out the underlying problem and addressing it. Sure, the first option is easier in the short run, but in the end, it produces obnoxious kids for whom we all pay.

The worst example of this is yet another judge – anyone reminded of the adage about letting mice guard the cheese? Judge Roy L. Pearson Jr. is suing his dry cleaners for fifty four million dollars over a pair of trousers which he claims they lost. The details of the case are irrelevant. The only thing we need to remember is the number. I don’t care how nice the pants are!

It’s time to say enough, before we are all taken to the cleaners by overly litigious individuals who are comfortable making us all pay for their problems. We need intelligent legislation that preserves the right to make claims, creates incentives that favor upholding the law, and stops rewarding petulant children masquerading as adults in our courts, before we are all taken to the cleaners and presented with a bill that none of us will be able to afford.