American Legal System

I have a problem with the American legal system. Overall, I think this country has a good system, letting people get a fair shake. Unfortunately, it does not work as well as it could.

First off, there are way too many stupid lawsuits. Do you remember the one where the guy sued his dry cleaner for like $50 million for a pair of pants? I think everyone's time could have been spent in a much better fashion. The worst part about that whole story was that the plaintiff was a JUDGE! You would think he would know better. Talk about frivolous. Fortunately he didn't get any money.

Second, the juries are not doing their job. Remember the lady who sued McDonald's when she burned herself drinking hot coffee? She actually won a settlement. Now places are forced to put a disclaimer on their coffee cups saying that it is hot. WOW! How could a jury find McDonald's negligent for making coffee HOT???? You know she would've complained if the coffee was cold. Did you not understand that you were ordering HOT coffee? Nowadays I can maybe see that if she ordered ICE coffee, but back then, there was no such thing. But the sad part about the whole story is that the jury sided with her. Huh? I'm confused. It was like the time I was on a jury. Half the people wanted to vote for an acquittal because the guy seemed like a nice guy and they just didn't think he did it? What??? Does the evidence count? What about the testimony? In the end, he did get acquitted (the evidence didn't support the crime he was charged with) but you can't just go on a feeling or vote one way because you feel sorry for someone.

And this brings me to the final point, the system has too many ways to escape from personal responsibility. With temporary insanity, mental defect and whatever psycho babble you can come up with blaming your upbringing and parents and whatever else, there are too many ways we let people off for what they did. I have more to say about that subject, but I'll save it for another post.

So what do you think?