So many public institutions and businesses in the US base much of their internal policies and procedures on limiting their liability in how they operate day to day so they don’t get sued.
When you see a no-brainer, obvious disclaimer on a product packaging or advertisement and think to yourself *why does that need to be explicitly stated?* and the answer seems to always be “so some idiot doesn’t sue them.”
Even myself as an individual need to carry hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal liability insurance on my homeowners policy in case somebody sues me.
When people who feel that they’ve been wronged by an employer, or their kid’s school, or by another individual the advice they get online is always “get a lawyer” but how can most people afford to do that?
I know that attorneys can take money from a settlement after it’s been won, but that takes months or even years in court and with the average fee of well over $150.00 per hour for even a consultation with an attorney, how do normal people afford to sue anyone?
I am well aware that individuals seeking damages from big corporations for blatant negligence is one of the quickest ways for health and safety regulations to be reformed, like that poor woman who was burned because McDonald’s was keeping their coffee at near boiling temperatures, I’m not questioning if these lawsuits are legitimate, I’m questioning how they’re even possible?
In: Economics
Most lawsuits aren’t brought by an individual, even those that are called David Jones vs. Holly Peterson or whatever.
When you see “burglar sues homeowner for being bitten by dog during burglary” it’s not the burglar suing, it’s his insurance company suing the homeowners’ various insurance providers. They get to file it under the insured’s name. All the various insurance companies want somebody else to pay part of the medical bill.
Little Mary falls off a swing at a park and breaks an arm, it’s her insurance company suing the city.
Anybody gets injured, just about every insurance provider will want to pass at least part of the cost off to some other provider. You get killed in a car accident, your life insurance will pay up. But they’re going to sue the other driver and his auto insurance provider, and his umbrella provider, and maybe his employer if he was driving to or from work, and the city where it happened. Their expectation is that those other carriers will settle for say $60,000 to make it go away, because that’s cheaper than fighting it in the courts.
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