Comments | sulleniguana: Being human

sulleniguana

Being human

Mar 30, 2006 16:20

I think there are two major problems with living in the United States these days. No, I don't mean health care, or inflation, or taxes, or crime. These are big problems, don't get me wrong, but with the exception of crime, I don't think they're necessarily representative of what's wrong with American society today. The issues I'm thinking about ( Read more... )

Comments 10

centerfire March 31 2006, 00:41:31 UTC

It makes no difference whether or not the signal timing actually caused your accident, not in our country. If something went wrong, you can always find someone to sue!

Believe it or not (he says, having just taken his final exams for his first year of law school), there is a legitimate reason for this. And the municipality does, in fact, have recourse.

Causation, in tort, has two aspects: actual cause and proximate cause. The actual cause element does not require exclusivity; otherwise, anybody who suffered a single indivisible harm with multiple independent causes could never recover. The law only requires that the defendant's tortious conduct be a "substantial factor" that led to the plaintiff's injury. And to establish the proximate cause element, the plaintiff merely has to show that the type of harm suffered was reasonably foreseeable, and that there were no independent supervening causes of the harm. Another person's negligence never constitutes an independent supervening cause, because it's always foreseeable that somebody ( ... )

anonymous March 31 2006, 04:10:07 UTC

Both of these particular problems stem from one systemic flaw, which can be described in one word:

Lawyers.

Now, before all you lawyers and lawyers-to-be get in a huffle, let me clarify:

There are lawyers out there who are unscrupulous enough to find loopholes or little grey areas in the law and exploit them to the benefit of, well, themselves. We all know this (NO FEE UNLESS WE GET MONEY FOR YOU!) It's a never ending cycle. One person who was perhaps a little aggressive, litigiousness-wise, decided to sue over something stupid. They had a better lawyer than the defendant, won, and LANDSLIDE! Or perhaps, LAWSUITSLIDE!

Anyway...that's my opinion.

cmdrhobbes March 31 2006, 04:10:38 UTC

That was me, I didn't realize I wasn't logged in.

anonymous March 31 2006, 18:27:18 UTC

There are lawyers out there who are unscrupulous enough to find loopholes or little grey areas in the law and exploit them to the benefit of, well, themselves.

That's not unscrupulousness. That's called doing a good job of representing your client.

centerfire March 31 2006, 18:27:34 UTC

Sorry. That's me.

Thread 8

kingfrog March 31 2006, 13:22:05 UTC

In an age in which no individual will take responsibility, the society is at fault every time.

It's my company's fault I can't get ahead. They don't like me because I'm {select one or more: black, female, gay, white, Republican, Democrat, foreign, etc.)

It's my town's fault I can't drive safely. They didn't have a long enough light for me to pull out right in front of a speeding driver in (self-delusory) safety.

I'm a racist because I think people should all be treated the same. If I utter a negative opinion of someone, no matter what it is based upon, I'm a racist unless he's white. Of course, if he's a she, then I'm just sexist. Or perhaps sexist and racist.

I'm so glad I have a collection of friends who understand that people screw up. Who are willing to tell me when I make an idiot of myself, rather than just sue me or stop talking to me or otherwise do unhelpful things.