Tort reform extravaganza
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 By Mike Maurer.
A little bit of headline reform is needed here, “Ohio lawmakers appeal DHL’s UPS decision.”
Er, no. The lawmakers appealed to DHL to change its decision. Nobody sued anybody, at least not yet.
A better headline would be, “Say, guys, how about a little cheese with your whine?”
And speaking of untoward results, how about agreeing to chaperone a high school trip, only to be sued because an 18-year-old snuck in some booze and ended up tumbling off a balcony to her death?
Here’s the thing; take doctors as an example. You sue a doctor if you die, the result will not be better medical care. It will be no medical care. If your chance of dying at a given moment is, say, 75 percent to 100 percent, and a doctor can change that percentage to, say, 60 percent, you’ll take that deal. But if your luck doesn’t hold, your estate does not win the lottery. Doctors aren’t there to ensure no one ever dies and insure huge payouts if someone does. Doctors are there to change the odds.
18-year-olds are marginally more likely than adults to engage in stupid behavior, and significantly less likely to know how to deal with the adverse consequences. That has nothing to do with chaperones. Except in the most egregious circumstances, suing chaperones won’t result in fewer kids’ deaths. It’ll just mean the kids will die closer to home
Tags: lawsuit abuse, tort reform
