Topic: This made me want to hurl

[angrykeebler]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/05/03/missing.pants.ap/index.html

its fucking sick and criminal.. what is this dudes problem??

[scottws]

No shit.  Some dude on a major power trip or something.  At the very least the defendants will win the case or the case will be thrown out.  But I think disbarrment might just be a very real possiblity.

I think they should counter-sue after the case is over.

[Quemaqua]

Absolutely.  Somebody needs to help those poor people.

[Ghandi]

What an asshole.

[Cobra951]

Anyone watch the Craig Ferguson show?  Late night on one of the networks, funny Scottish guy.  Anyway, he devoted almost his entire opening monologue a couple of nights ago to ripping this asshole a twin.  He went on and on.  I wonder if that's around the net somewhere.  It was pretty intense for Ferguson.

Edit:  Found it.  Go here and click on "May 2, 2007".

[Pugnate]

Yea I read it. He's destroyed their lives. Their money has been lost in legal fees etc. They should counter sue or something.

[scottws]

I watched the clip.  Interestingly, he didn't even mention that it's possible the missing pants were found just a few days later.

He did talk about frivelous lawsuits, which I want to touch on a bit.  I served on jury duty here in Hamilton County from April 23 - May 4.  I was assigned to one case, but I didn't make it through voire dire (jury selection).  The case was a civil one.  A guy was suing another guy because he was hurt in a drunk driving accident where he was a passenger in the defendant's car.

During voire dire, the plaintiff's attorney asked all the jurors if they felt that it is okay to sue for and receive not only compensation for medical bills and lost wages - concrete, calcuable amounts - but also compensation for pain and sufferent, which is obviously an intangible.  The answers varied, but this one potential juror was steadfast against it.  She said accidents happen and while it's okay to get compensation for lost wages and bills (around $16,000 in this case), one should just basically suck up the pain.

The judge interjected here and said something like, "You do realize that it is legally permissible to sue for and receive compensation for pain and suffering.  In fact, if you are selected for this jury, one of your primary responsibilities will be to put a dollar amount on the amount of compensation received for that pain and suffering."

Put a dollar amount on pain and suffering?  I mean I think the fact that the judge basically said "This is the way it is" is one of the biggest problems with our legal system.  All that common law bullshit where previous decisions basically become steadfast law and that's just the way it is; there is no or very little resistance by progressive judges to change this craziness.

Concerning the case being discussed in this topic, does the dry cleaners even have 65 million USD?  I mean there is no way.  I doubt the business pulls in even $250,000 in a year.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, the pain and suffering thing is bullshit.  I've always felt that way and doubt it'll ever change.

[Ghandi]

I dunno. I'm of the opinion that it varies. Some people exploit it. For the people in this story, I'm sure that there has been some pain involved- pain that they have done nothing wrong and may lose their business. They should be compensated for this.

[Quemaqua]

No, they should be compensated for somebody making their lives hell for no reason.  Reckless prosecution.  Etc.  Pain and suffering is crap.  It's one thing if somebody is torturing you, it's another thing when you get into a car accident and you're suing the guy because you hurt.  Fuck that shit.

[Cobra951]

Wait a sec.  I know "pain and suffering" and "emotional anguish", etc, can be abused.  But that's why we have judges and juries.  At the conclusion of the battle, someone must make a decision about who won, and how decisively.  It's a flawed human system, run by flawed humans.  The system can't compensate too much for idiots who make the wrong decisions, or who go overboard in their awards.

Are you all seriously saying that enduring pain and suffering after an actionable event should never get compensation?  Let's say you're a generally healthy, generally well-adjusted man of about 25 years of age.  Your life could be better, but you can't complain.  You have a lovely wife or girlfriend whom you adore, and you have a great life together.  Now along comes this drunk driver who puts you in the hospital.  When you come out, you have permanent injuries to your back.  You live in constant pain, unless you deaden the pain with dangerous narcotics.  You have a hard time performing sexually, and your love life basically goes away.

Nothing?  You're entitled to nothing for this?  The civil courts awarded you all medical costs.  Your bills were paid by the defendant, the drunk driver.  But nothing else?

[Pugnate]

I am with you Cobra. If it was someone else's fault that the rest of your life is fucked up because of injuries etc., then you should compensated. Like you say, there is room for abuse there, but I think the rest of the world could use some of those laws so they can behave a bit more responsibly.

[Quemaqua]

If someone expects to get paid for every bad thing that happens to them because of somebody else, they should probably just commit suicide, because that's basically all life is when you look at the bad stuff.  It's people doing shit to you that makes your situation suck.

Besides, how can you put a dollar value on something like that?  It isn't possible.  And how is money going to make it any better?  It isn't.  Trust me on this one, I have personal experience.  All the money in the world isn't going to make up for not being able to do things you used to love to do, much less compensate for a lacking sexual relationship.  Aside from all that, I could accept maybe tacking on a little bit more to the overall judgment if somebody did something criminally negligent that caused the other person extreme trauma, but the amount of money these people usually get for their bullshit "oh look at me I'm in pain" shit is ridiculous.  I will never accept the validity of that.

If it affects your ability to work, fine.  If there's some reason that extra money could help you truly manage it (i.e. ongoing medical expenses, possible treatments you want to explore), fine.  If you just expect extra money because you feel bad for yourself, somebody should just tie a plastic bag around your head and get your garbage out of the gene pool.

[Cobra951]

In civil court, money is justice.  Without it, justice would be, what, murder?  An eye for an eye?  Sock it to the bad guy, so that the victims don't feel the need to sock it to him themselves.

What good is the money?  Oh, come on.  Sure, you can't get your old life back in my scenario.  But you can sure distract yourself with a few million dollars in the bank.  No need to worry about whether or not you can still perform at some job.  A cruise to the most beautiful places on Earth is very uplifting.  Trust me on this one.  You can even hire a personal assistant, and if you feel the need, you can make regular visits to a high class brothel somewhere in Nevada.

[Quemaqua]

And who says you deserve even one of those things just because you suffer some misfortune?  I'm sorry, but life doesn't work that way.  Unless you're talking about taking away someone's ability to work or enjoy life on a basic, fundamental level, I can't see it, and I can't in any way understand the massive awards they throw around in many of these cases.  I disagree entirely with that concept.

[nickclone]

I'm currently suing my job, the pain and suffering I've been put through has been pretty intense. After getting hurt on the job and needing surgery to fix my shoulder, I couldn't use my left arm at all for at least a month. The constant pain was unbearable and I didn't sleep for more than 15 minutes at a time. I could barely feed myself, I couldn't dress myself, I couldn't bathe and since this job is trying to screw me over, I had no money.

Perhaps I should sue for pain and suffering as well.