Year after year, state and federal lawmakers try but never fully succeed in attempting to rein in “lawsuit abuse” that bogs down court systems and adds costs to businesses, consumers, and the healthcare system.
Every year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform reminds us all just how absurd some lawsuits can be. ILR on Tuesday released its annual list of the “Top 10 Most Ridiculous Lawsuits” of the year — and it’s a doozy.
Consider the ninth-place “winner”: “A woman sues Canada Dry Ginger Ale for fooling customers because the soda doesn’t contain real ginger … even though the ingredients are listed on every can.”
Or the one that came in eighth: “Two customers sue McDonald’s for $5 million because they wanted a DISCOUNT for their burgers after asking for no cheese! That’s enough to buy over 1.3 million Quarter Pounders.”
Or consider this one: “Number 2: The makers of Kind Snack Bars are being sued for putting “chemical-sounding terms like ascorbic acid” in their bars, which is literally another name for vitamin C.”
This comes after the American Tort Reform Association last week issued its annual “Judicial Hellholes” report, listing the worst political jurisdictions for lawsuit abuse. The report makes clear that particular states and cities feature laws that encourage, or fail to adequately dissuade the filing of, lawsuits that defy reason but that somehow succeed — and, in doing so, harm not just the losing party, but the broader community which loses jobs because the lawsuit abuse creates a bad climate for business.
Indeed, an ILR report in October pegged the total nationwide cost of lawsuit payments and expenses in 2016 (the last year for which data collection has been completed) at $429 billion. Granted, the ILR has an anti-lawsuit agenda, but my years of covering its work shows that its hard data is generally reliable, regardless of whatever conclusions it draws from that data.
To note this is hardly to disparage all lawsuits or tort claims. Of course, a wronged party should be able to sue, and win against, a malefactor whose actions or negligence caused serious harm. What’s needed, though, are laws to limit the penalties to amounts reasonably in line with the actual damage done — among other reforms that make the court system the final resort, not the first one, for resolving disputes.
One good source for ideas on how to do this is the book Life Without Lawyers by respected nonpartisan author and reform advocate Philip K. Howard. Here’s to urging lawmakers nationwide to recognize the ongoing problems and to consider the ideas of Howard and others for eliminating the system’s excesses while still affording injured parties the likelihood of securing justice.
