Bad Stuff Happens
Living is hazardous to your life. Dangers lurk all around us. If Mother Nature doesn’t get you, something else will. Disease and injuries and accidents happen. Modern technology has come a long, long way to help lengthen our lifespans and mitigate lots of risks - but still, really bad stuff can, and will, sometimes happen. There’s not much humanity can do to change that fact.
There is a contingent in our society, particularly here in the U.S., that holds the view that, when bad stuff happens, that it’s always somebody’s fault. And that it is government’s job to punish that person or organization.
And so, lo and behold, I give you the U.S. Civil Justice System. Here’s the usual routine: something bad happens. Lawyers are hired, somebody is identified as “at fault”, and is sued - usually for huge sums of $money.
What got me thinking about this was the (some would say inevitable) lawsuits being filed after the horrific July 4 floods in Texas, which destroyed $Billions in property and killed over 130 people, mostly young girls camping along the Guadalupe River. (See picture at top of this article.) Yes, it was a terrible tragedy, and families are grieving.
But when really bad stuff like this happens, why, why, why must there be lawsuits? And what exactly is the logic behind determining who is “at fault”?
In the U.S. Civil Justice System, there are countless examples of pointless lawsuits. Here’s just a smattering:
A thug entered a late-night restaurant with intent to rob. He killed some employees working there. A lawsuit was filed against ... the owner of the restaurant.
An 18-wheeler smashed into the back of a small car, and the car’s gas tank burst into flames. A lawsuit was filed against ... the car’s manufacturer.
Here’s one that happens from time to time: Kids enter a swimming pool or pond (where they might not even have permission to do so) and drown. Lawsuits are filed against ... the owner of the property where the pool is located.
During a medical procedure, something goes wrong. The doctor gets sued. (Obstetricians are particularly vulnerable to this type of lawsuit, because parents, naturally, want a “perfect” baby.)
People get injured using power tools or ladders or knives or heavy equipment. Lawsuits are filed against ... (again) the manufacturer.
And of course the efforts never cease to make gun manufacturers liable when their product kills someone.
Also here in Texas, in 1999, at Texas A&M University, students were working on the annual bonfire. The stack of logs collapsed, killing 12. The school, of course, was sued.
I am certain that you, dear reader, could fill out a long list of similar lawsuits that have occurred over the years.
There are a lot of problems with this lawsuit mentality. (And by the way, it’s mainly an American thing. Few other nations have any kind of Civil Justice System that looks like ours.)
Let’s start with the easy retort: all this judicial activity is $expensive. VERY expensive. You, dear reader, consumer of goods and services, pay dearly for all this litigation and fines and penalties. It’s like a tax, and like all taxes, it gets passed down to you and me.
But most of this “tax”, of course, doesn’t go to the government; rather, it goes to the lawyers. It’s a $58 Billion industry. And just about every business must buy expensive insurance policies to protect themselves from it. Imagine if all that money was instead used to produce goods and services that we consumers actually need and want, rather than paying lawyers and fines.
Instead of focusing on identifying the “guilty” party and making them pay till it hurts, the emphasis should be on mitigation, not punishment. Go thru some of the lawsuit examples listed above. The end objective should be to figure out why the bad thing happened, and come up with procedures for preventing it in the future. Lawsuits do NOT attempt to do this.
Well, that’s what usually happens when we put the government in charge of fixing problems or improving quality of life. It applies to the judiciary too, as well as to the other government branches.
Which brings us to how the heck they decide who is “at fault”. Often, the true answer is: nobody. Going back to the Texas July 4 floods: the plaintiffs allege that the folks running the campgrounds were negligent - something about not checking the weather forecast. Um, no. They did not cause this disaster. There was no way to predict that kind of monstrous rainfall. If you want to blame somebody, blame Mother Nature. Or God. Or the Devil. It would be one thing if the camp directors deliberately schemed to murder all those kids, but that is not the case.
And finally, we must consider the message that all this out-of-control civil litigation sends to society. It says: don’t ever, ever DO anything. Go nowhere. Stay at home, always indoors. Never, ever use power tools or equipment, not even household appliances, nor anything with a blade. Don’t build anything. Don’t start a business. Don’t help anyone. Don’t drive, or ride in, a car, or any type of vehicle. Only work or get schooling from home. And for gosh sakes, do not do anything FUN, like swimming, camping, or any kind of sport. Parties and socialization are a big no-no. Doing any of these things increases the likelihood of something bad happening, and we simply cannot risk it!!
If that is not the kind of world you want to live in, then let’s take steps to change our Civil Justice System, because that is where we are headed. And leave it up to us, not the government, to protect ourselves from the inevitable bad stuff.