The Litigation Explosion

It has been estimated that 50,000 lawsuits are filed in this country every day of the week. This has come to be known as the "litigation explosion." Whatever the causes—a breakdown of traditional values, the loss of a sense of community, too many hungry lawyers, wasteful insurance companies—the impact on each of us is significant. When patients sue doctors, the cost of healthcare rises. To compensate for products liability claims, manufacturers add a premium to the price of their products. Litigation cripples business. It is time consuming, expensive, and emotionally charged. It detracts from our ability to focus on productive matters, as attention is directed away from matters of efficiency and innovation. Parties to a lawsuit spend so much time meeting with lawyers and fighting with the other side that nothing gets accomplished. As businesses are dragged under by the burdens of litigation, our whole society suffers.

If you are engaged in any business activity or if you have a professional practice, chances are that sooner or later you will be sued. And if you are sued, everything that you have worked hard to create will be placed in jeopardy. The costs of defending even a frivolous suit can easily reach $50,000 to $100,000. Once you get to court, you will find that the system is heavily weighted toward the sympathetic plaintiff, as judges and juries play Robin Hood with your money. These judges and juries are continually expanding theories of liability, and stratospheric damage and punitive damage awards are now routine. It is no longer uncommon for awards in negligence cases to exceed $1 million.

Our legal system should hold people responsible for their acts. If someone causes injury, that person should be required to fairly compensate the victim for his loss. Not many people would seriously object to this principle. The problem is that this general principle bears no relationship to what is actually occurring in the legal system today.