Lawsuits: The true American way

Life in the United States is becoming more and more dangerous. According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control unintentional injuries are the fifth leading cause of death and the third most important after cancer and heart disease. Now, while cancer and heart disease are mainly controlled by god, injury is something that can be taken care of by man. And the safety of others is the duty and responsibility of everyone.

The saying goes it takes a village to raise a child and unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in children between the ages of one and twenty-one. What is this village doing to stop this? Childhood falls account for one third of fall-related emergency visits. What actions are going to stop this? Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in children and young adults. And still, what is being done to save these innocent lives?

Who is at fault for the countless deaths and injuries? Surely the blame cannot rest on the children who are young and faultless and surely not on the parents who can not protect their children from all the dangers in the world. The blame falls on those who manufacture the goods that harm the children, it falls on those who put the dangerous ideas into the children’s heads and lure them into precarious predicaments. The fault lies on the major corporations around us that make their money off of the hurt of others. Thus, we the people must defend ourselves and our children by striking these corporations where they will hurt the most and by taking them to court. It is only when we have hurt them publicly and financially that action will be taken to improve products and increase safety. Great strides have already been taken and the action must be spurred on by the majority of the American people.

In order to fully understand what action should be taken it is important for everyone to fully understand lawsuits. A lawsuit is a legal action brought by a plaintiff, a person who claims to have been wronged, against a defendant, the person being sued. If a judge decides that a case has enough evidence to go to trial then the verdict may be decided by either a judge or a jury. In order for a lawsuit to go to court, a judge must decide if the case meets two criteria: there must have been a wrongful act committed and the plaintiff must have suffered. It is encouraging to hear the examples of the behemoths of industry being taken down by the ordinary citizen and their lawyer. When in 1992 a McDonalds customer had almost six percent of her body burned when she spilled their coffee, it was legal action that compensated her for her pain and that added labels warning people of the dangers of hot coffee everywhere. Also in 1992—a great time for lawyers everywhere—I t was court action that forced Honda to make their seatbelts easier to open. A twenty-three year old girl could not open her seatbelt, although her blood-alcohol level was only 0.17; consequently she drowned after backing her car into a bay. More actions like these need to taken, for it is with action that a safe world will be created.

The judicial system is one of the strongest single representations of democracy in our free nation; one in which any person no matter how rich or poor can seek justice. And yet, justice is still being denied to many people. These large companies, instead of paying retribution to those that they have harmed, instead pay teams of lawyers to “protect” their assets. These companies must be forced to take responsibility for their products; they must be forced to make sure that their products are safe and their marketing truthful. When In 1991, Richard Harris sued Anheiser-Busch for $10,000 for false advertising he was overpowered by the company’s lawyers. The beer company’s advertisements clearly showed that drinking their product would get him female companionship and yet, even after drinking many beers he had no such results. Also, the company failed to mention the sickly feelings that would result from the consumption of their product. How is it that even in the justice system, injustice is still prevalent? A man who only wanted ten thousand dollars in compensation for his difficulties was unable to even receive that.

I have heard claims that these lawsuits are frivolous and do nothing but waste the courts time and money, but these people have not realized the impact that these actions have on American society. According to the American bar foundation there are around one million lawyers in he United States, in fact seventy percent of the worlds lawyers are from the United States. Not only are these lawsuits improving the lives of the public but are providing jobs for numerous lawyers and court officials. Lawyers have become the backbone of this nation, they have more influence and are more important than athletes, doctors and teachers and have become important enough to warrant their own place in the hearts and in the jokes of Americans.

These lawyers are important for they have helped the lives of people all over the nation. One such person was a young mother, Kathleen Robinson, who was awarded seven-hundred eighty-thousand dollars after a store failed to stop her toddler from running around the store, causing her to trip over him and break her ankle. They also have helped countless people stay safe when buying a Winnebago after a lawsuit that resulted in the company being forced to change their manuals. The lawsuit was the result or man who on his first trip in his motor home put the motor home on cruise control and left his seat to make a cup of coffee. The R.V. swerved off the freeway overturned and crashed. The man was awarded one million seven hundred fifty thousand dollars, a new Winnebago and the piece of mind that what had happened to him will never happen to another.It has been lawsuits like these that show how importnat it is for businesses to protect people from the greatest danger--themselves.

For every injury there is a lawsuit waiting to happen. For every injustice that occurs someone must be sued. According to the constitution, every person has the right to “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and when those rights get trod upon it is up to the true American to do the right thing and sue.