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Subject: 
Re: Fan Thank You Letter
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Thu, 20 Jun 2002 20:19:23 GMT
Viewed: 
1383 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, David Koudys writes:

I concur wholeheartedly.  In no way shape or form do I want to pass laws
and/or regulations that limit access to the justice system.  I want people
to grow up, suck it up, realize that sh*t happens, and that, no matter how
you cut it, life goes on.  There is no free lunch--stop looking for one.
This is an individual/moral/ethical issue, not a law changing issue.

We may just be off agreeing with each other at the top of our lungs...

But anyway I DO support laws that change how tort works in the US... the
change I want to see is that if a lawsuit IS found to be frivolous there is
some financial consequence to (the law firm of) the plaintiff to compensate
the defendant for their lost time/effort. Has to be structured carefully so
that it's not a barrier to entry for justifiable lawsuits.

Tangentially, yesterdays USA Today had a story about how hard it is for
those wrongfully imprisoned to get compensation. Seems to me that if someone
is incarcerated for something they truly didn't do, there are lost wages
that ought to be made up...

By analogy: Jury duty is a civic duty, you lose wages and that's the way it
is.  But being imprisoned is arguably not your civic duty...

Oh my tirade is not directed at anyone here at all.  I have agreed with
these posts.  Few things get my blood pressure up and this is one of them,
so if I come across as yelling, my bad.

Yes I stand on a soap box every once in a while.  I'm not that eloquent when
it comes to, well, much of anything, but the written word in particular is a
little hard ot get inflection across.  Is like when you watch someone speak,
and then read what they said later, you take completely different things
away from it.

That said, here's a thing...

Sometimes, once in a while, I actually get home before 9 p.m.  When I do,
again, once in a while, I'll turn on the telly (for those of my British
friends :) )and watch Judge Judy, and I am awed by the sheer audacity of
some of the people and their 'suits'.

'I hauled off and hit her in the mouth and bruised my hand and am looking
for 5000 dollars for emotional distress...'

K, is an example, and I know it's TV, but my goodness, all the small claims
court cases in the world that aren't televised have to have similar crap.

Solomon got off easy--'Cut the kid in half...'

I try to explain it this way.  Any criminal out there stop reading now
'cause this is a tirade against your stupidity--

You steal a car stereo, the one in my truck, for example.  Was worth 300
dollars 10 years ago... k, better example since this is a hypothetical.  You
steal a *new* car stereo.  If you're a discerning thief, you may make it a
good one, worth 300 dollars or more.  So now you're ahead of the game for
300 bones that you did not have to pay.

But you pay.  'Cause here's what happens.  The vehicle has to be fixed-calim
against the insurance.  For a 300 dollar stereo guy has to get door/window
fixed as well as new stereo.  Claim is for, say 600 dollars (being *very*
conservative)

His insurance pays, but that money has to come from somewhere.  SO insurance
premiums go up, so we, who use insurance, pay more, so we have to make more
from our jobs.  So whatever company we work for has to make more money
selling what they sell, so those prices go up.  So, in the end, the consumer
(all of us) have to pay more for *everything*.

Sure it works out for that one stolen car stereo may work out to be a
fraction of a thousanth of a penny per purchase, but A) you're not the only
thief out there and b) you make plenty of purchases.  YOu think that in 10
years, you won't have spent more than 300 dollars on the 'addidtional
expenses' attached to consumer goods that you purchase?  Unless you steal
everything that you need to live, throughout your life you're shelling out
more than the moneys saved by stealing.  Not you as society, but you
specifically--the thief.

Stealing is insane.  And stealing time is ludicrous.  I can't imagine all
the physical monies wasted by these frivilous cases.  The lawyers have to be
paid, the judges, even the people who clean and maintain the courtrooms.
That's alotta money.  For what?  So you can extract some semblance of
financial vengeance against your neighbour, who happened to run over your cat?

Yes you were attached to your cat.  Yes the neighbour should have been
watching when he backed out of his garage.  But will the 500 dollars get
your cat back?

People, in general, should just take a step back and say, 'Yes I hurt today,
but I must believe in a brighter tomorrow.'  (that should be on a coffee cup
somewhere)  And the only way to have a brighter tomorrow is if we *help* one
another, not extract vengeance.  Forgiveness really is divine.

'Cause that leads to my final point--what goes around, comes around.  You
sue him, he sues someone else, and that dude sues you...

Much akin to that Star Trek ep 'A Piece of the Action...'

I whack Granko
Granko whacks Kneeko
Kneeko whacks me

No one comes out ahead in this game ('xcept maybe the lawyers ;) )

(anytime you can quote a Star Trek Classic Ep in a post, now that's a good
time!)

Dave



Message has 3 Replies:
  Re: Fan Thank You Letter
 
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, David Koudys writes: ***snip of stereophilic skullduggery*** (...) Kind of. But consider that the costs are raised infinitessimally by any single theft, so it's no good to tell Thief A not to steal; as long as every other (...) (22 years ago, 20-Jun-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  Re: Fan Thank You Letter
 
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, David Koudys writes: <snip> (...) You don't know how lucky you are. Your "sue happy" culture means that people who ought to be careful are more motivated to be careful! I think I get the point of your example. To take (...) (22 years ago, 21-Jun-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
  MOB (was Re: Fan Thank You Letter)
 
MOB (was Re: Fan Thank You Letter) (...) Consider this: He doesn't BUY insurance. No one does. There is no insurance to be had. The cost is not spread. No one cares whether I ride a motorcycle with a helmet or not -- it's MY OWN BUSINESS. When did (...) (22 years ago, 21-Jun-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Fan Thank You Letter
 
(...) We may just be off agreeing with each other at the top of our lungs... But anyway I DO support laws that change how tort works in the US... the change I want to see is that if a lawsuit IS found to be frivolous there is some financial (...) (22 years ago, 20-Jun-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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