Frivolous Lawsuits

I think there should be a level of the civil court system that does nothing but review cases prior to going to court. They should be in place solely to weed out the frivolous crap.

When someone tries to sue a dry cleaner for $67 million because they lost his pants, this court should throw out the case and order the plaintiff to pay any court costs that were incurred by the state, county, city or defendant during this process. In this case, the pants were actually found about a week after they were lost, but the plaintiff in the case refused to accept the pants or any other offers to pay for the pants. In my opinion, he was someone that thought he could work the system because he works in the system; he was a judge himself. Luckily, the cleaners and common sense won in the end, but the cleaners and the courts incurred costs in the process.

In many states, the losing party of civil suits must pay court costs and legal fees, but this is not done everywhere, and this is done after someone has had to go through heart ache and expense. I propose that an arbitration of some sort must be implemented prior to the civil suit reaching a court room. Just like a grand jury decides whether or not someone should be charged with a crime in the criminal courts. If someone's suit is found to be frivolous, they should be required to pay all costs associated with both sides of the suit. If not, they can move forward, and to determine who is at fault in a real courtroom. I'm no legal expert, and I don't know how many laws would have to change in order to even do something like this, but I think I am on the bandwagon for reform on this stuff.

Too many people see every little perceived slight as an opportunity for a lottery jackpot, and too many lawyers realize that they get a big cut of it. It's time we stopped treating life like we are playing one big game of BINGO and just waiting for that last square to get filled in by someone stepping on our toes.

-A.W.C.

P.S. - Or just send all civil suits to Judge Judy and her ilk. Put all civil suits on TV and privatize the process. Frivolous cases last about 10 minutes there and taxpayers don't have to be on the hook for any of it.