Frivolous lawsuits Essay example -- Legal Issues

Do you remember the lawsuit about the woman who ordered the McDonald’s coffee and spilled it in her lap and sued McDonald’s because it did not have a warning label on it? What about the woman who fell in the fountain at the mall while texting and wants to sue the mall? These lawsuits may seem fairly farfetched. They fall into the category called frivolous. Black’s Law Dictionary defines frivolous as lacking a legal basis or legal merit; not serious; not reasonably purposeful (Garner, 2006). When people pursue such lawsuits as these it costs money. â€Å"The civil justice system is plagued by high ‘transaction costs,’ meaning that it is both expensive and time consuming to use the courts to resolve disputes† (Ruschmann, 2006, p. 60). Frivolous lawsuits should not be taken seriously. People should not be awarded money for things that they caused themselves, and they should not cost courts and consumer’s time and/or money. There are many steps to go through once you decide to file a lawsuit. Many Americans suffer from injuries but only a small percentage of them file a lawsuit because many of them have valid claims but they have little money. Sometimes when plaintiffs, the person filing the lawsuit, go to trial there is a lot of money that has to be spent up-front. â€Å"Taking a large case on a contingency fee and advancing all the out-of-pocket cost is a very expensive proposition† (Bourhis, 2005, p. 76). Lawyers have created the contingent-fee arrangement. This is where â€Å"a lawyer agrees to take a case without any money up front and without requiring the client to pay an hourly or flat fee. In return, the lawyer is entitled to receive a percentage of the actual amount of money collected, generally 33 percent, but sometimes 40 percent if ... ...ceived potential for a large payout. Three percent of product liability trials involved toxic substances, including tobacco. Three tobacco product liability trials were disposed of a national sample in 2005. All three of these trials were decided by juries that ruled in favor of the defendants. Toxic substances were linked as 346 of the 354 product liability trials (Cohen, 2009). Tort reformers believe that courts must reduce the ability of defendants’ liability in order to avoid economic decline. In the years to come, the proposals likely to generate the biggest dispute include malpractice and class-action reform, limits on noneconomic and punitive damages, and a legislative solution to asbestos legation (Rushmann, 2006). There are many lawsuits. But the frivolous lawsuits should not be taken seriously and not cost our courts and citizens time and/or money.