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PERHAPS WE SHOULD BE MORE ENGLISH.
July 15, 2007 -
July 22, 2007
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” is one of the most often quoted lines from any of Shakespeare’s plays. It comes from Henry VI. It is also seldom, if ever, quoted in context.
The speaker in the play is NOT someone frustrated with the excesses of an overly legalistic and litigious society who is seeking a creative (though violent) route to establishing sanity in a system gone awry. Instead, it is an anarchist who recognizes that the quickest and most efficient way to create chaos and tyranny was to eliminate the lawyers. It may also have been one of the first lawyer jokes -- consistently generating laughs from English audiences 500 years ago.
Ultimately, the English found a less bloody way to rein in the lawyers by imposing a “loser pays” rule for their courts. The so-called “English rule” requires the loser in a law suit to pay the legal fees that the prevailing party incurs during the course of the litigation. Countries as diverse as Sweden, Australia, France, Germany, Canada, and the Netherlands employ some form of this cost-shifting rule, which traces its roots to early Roman law. Seemingly alone in the industrialized, modern world, the United States allows frivolous lawsuits to be filed and pursued with impunity.
The latest example of a lawsuit that should encourage us to reconsider the wisdom of a system that rewards those who pursue the “legal lottery” as a means to wealth comes from Texas. Wycoda Fischer tried out for a spot on the junior varsity cheerleading squad at Yorktown High School. She didn’t make the team. Now her mommy and daddy have filed a lawsuit to force the squad to make room for her.
The conflict came about after a mistake was made in the process of selecting the Varsity cheerleader squad, which was supposed to consist of eight cheerleaders. Originally, there were nine girls who had expressed an interest in trying out. After the cheerleader sponsor was informed that one of the girls had dropped out, she told the other eight girls that they had made the squad and no tryouts would be necessary. However, it turned out that the ninth girl had not, in fact, opted out of the team. In an effort to “do the right thing”, the school expanded the team to nine girls for the coming year.
So what does that have to do with the Junior Varsity cheerleading team? Nothing, according to the School Superintendent. Seven girls chose to try out for the six spots on the JV squad. Wycoda did not make it. Her parents argued that the school should simply expand the team to include their daughter. The Superintendent disagreed. So did the School Board, which voted by a 5-1-1 margin to uphold the decision of the Superintendent. Now the lawyer for the Fischer family is saying they will sue.
If the Fischer family had to calculate the potential cost of paying both THEIR lawyer AND the lawyers for the School Board, perhaps they might think twice before filing their lawsuit. It is clear that common-sense and reality are no longer enough to prevent people from using an expensive and backlogged legal system to right every wrong, real or imagined. It is time to impose some economic discipline, and even financial punishment, for those who file frivolous lawsuits. Today, the punitive costs of litigation rest heavily on the backs of those who are sued. Balancing things out with some form of a “loser pays” system would restore some much needed sanity to the process.
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PRO-ABORTIONISTS LAUNCH ATTACK ON FRED THOMPSON. -
July 8, 2007 -
July 15, 2007
Last week a woman named Judith DeSarno, who was once President of the pro-abortion National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, said that in 1991 she hired then-attorney and lobbyist Fred Thompson to lobby on behalf of her organization. Thompson is on the verge of entering the Republican primary for President of the United States, so her claim made big news across the country despite the complete absence of anything tangible that might back up her story.
Presumably, DeS... |
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RACIALLY OFFENSIVE STATEMENTS OFTEN GET A PASS. -
July 1, 2007 -
July 8, 2007
Just a few short months ago there was collective outrage over the “racist” and “sexist” comments of radio and television talk host Don Imus. He was forced from his radio perch after he referred to the predominantly black Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy headed hos.” The comment was both stupid and inaccurate, but it was typical of the outrageous comments that Imus has made over the years.
He apologized profusely, both on air and to the girls themselves, but that did not save h... |
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WHY THE DEMAND FOR UNTRACEABLE CELL PHONES? -
June 24, 2007 -
June 30, 2007
Recently there has been an inexplicable rush on untraceable, disposable cell phones by young Muslim men here in the United States. The continued surge in the purchase of these phones -- the kind that can be used and easily discarded to avoid wiretaps; the kind that are used to detonate bombs – deserves a lot more attention.
A few months ago two men were arrested in Ohio and charged with money laundering in support of terrorism. The two men, Osama Sabhi Abdulhassan and Ali Houssaiky, we... |
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AMNESTY DETAILS START TO EMERGE. -
May 20, 2007 -
May 27, 2007
The details of the secret “deal” constructed by the Bush Administration, Ted Kennedy and John McCain that will grant amnesty and immediate legal status to millions of illegals currently are slowly starting to emerge. And as usual, the details are proving devilish.
We have been told that there are 12 million illegal aliens in the country. Some estimates put the number much, much higher, closer to 20 million. The new Z-visa that is at the center of the amnesty plan does not put a cap on... |
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LEGISLATIVE LUNACY HITS NEW LOW IN MICHIGAN. -
April 8, 2007 -
April 15, 2007
Maybe it is a disease they contract when they are first sworn into office. Or, perhaps it is a virus that is spread from continuous close contact with lobbyists. Regardless of how they “get it”, it seems that legislators cannot seem to avoid being infected with an uncontrollable affinity for spending taxpayer money (even when the state’s coffers are empty) and engaging in seemingly endless debate about inane topics.
Tennessee legislators are definitely not immune. In the current session... |
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