My take....
Zyglamail said:
....It seems that more and more lately that people/companies are being held accountable for how their products are used or misused. For instance the lady who won a lawsuite for spilling hot coffee in her lap and she sued McD's. I still dont understand how that worked....
In a big way, this all revolves around product liability law....
If you make something, you have a choice.
1. Make it as cheap as possible and absorb losses when people are hurt by it.
2. Make it as cheap as possible without cutting costs associated with installing safety features, warnings, proper instructions for use, etc.
Most companies always went with #1. In product liability law, "defect" is a loose term. A widget might work perfectly in it's cheapest form, but prone to hurt the user is not used 100% correctly. Saftey designs add cost but reduce risk of injury to compensate for less-than-perfect use. Proper warnings and instructions give fair warning to prevent misuse.
However, you see stupid lawsuits like Sears being sued for not telling someone not to use a lawn mower to trim hedges (they lost that suit too
). The McDonalds case had two elements....that the coffee was deliberately kept scalding hot as a matter of common practice and that the lid was not properly put on the cup before the customer got it. The unusually hot temperature of the coffee was the more critical element. I doubt too much sympathy went to the woman spilling something on her while driving.
However, thing are also changing. I expect if someone injures me that they will compensate me, but too many people want to be compensated for stuff they could have avoided. School bleachers were never safe. To make totally safe bleachers would be too expensive for schools to own. We used to just accept they weren't safe and be careful. Now, we sue the school because our rugrats run around and fall because we don't watch them.
Everyone wants something for nothing, and it does not help that the legal profession actually encouraged frivolous lawsuits because it gets money for the attorney.
However, you can't blame lawyers for wanting to make money. By time you finish becoming a lawyer, you're so much in debt you have to do whatever you can to keep your practice alive, pay your debts, AND get a salary for yourself.
When a lawyer in private practice has to bring in $40K+ each year just to pay for keeping his office doors open, you can't expect him to turn away money when it comes his way....or for him to not chase every ambulance he can.
Because lawyers only make money if they win cases (or bill by the hour), they need targets that will pay off.
Your average Joe who needs a lawyer has no money. The only hope is to win and recover costs against the defendant. They go after those with "deep pockets" (lots of money or insurnace to pay for the case).
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