Don't Sue Me for This [02.18.04]

Sometimes even sports headlines can tell us much about the world we live in. But you often have to read between the lines to hear what they are saying.

Last week, on ESPN.com, I saw the headline, “Paralyzed prep star’s parents don’t plan suit.” No big deal, right? That seems like a good thing. But then I thought more about it and I began to wonder, what kind of culture do we live in where the emphasis in the headline on is fact that someone doesn’t plan to sue?

First, some background: Joe Kay, an Arizona high school basketball player, had just made a dunk to punctuate his team’s 62-54 victory over a rival when fans rushed the court. Caught at the bottom of a dog-pile, Kay tore his carotid artery and was partially paralyzed. He may never play sports again, putting his volleyball scholarship to Stanford in jeopardy. (To their credit, Stanford officials have said they plan on honoring the scholarship whether or not he can play again.)

Few would have been surprised if Kay and his parents had decided to sue. But for once, someone actually used common sense and realized that these things just happen. Suing those “responsible” would only have ruined more lives. But in America today, this is sadly the exception, not the norm. It seems to me that frivolous lawsuits are a result of two aspects of our culture. First, we are all trying to find easy paths to money. Second, and more significantly, we have been taught to blame everyone but ourselves for our problems.

Here are a few of the most outrageous lawsuits filed by those who think nothing is their own fault, most of which were found at www.power-of-attorneys.com/StupidLawsuit.htm:

Two high school baton twirlers in Connecticut sued their coach, athletic director, and principal after they were cut from the team, saying they were not treated fairly. The coach said they were just not good enough.

A high school basketball player in the Bay Area sued after being cut from the team, saying it damaged his chances of making millions in the NBA. (Someone should tell him that Michael Jordan was cut from his team his freshman year.)

A baseball coach in Ohio was sued by a player’s father for “bad coaching” after the team went 0-15, supposedly costing the team a trip to Florida for a tournament.

A man sued the Las Vegas Hilton and Mandalay Bay casinos for “allowing” him to gamble away $1 million while he was intoxicated.

Several lawsuits have recently been filed against fast-food chains by people who blamed McDonald’s, Burger King, and the like for making them obese.

Frivolous lawsuits do nothing but harm to society. No one considering volunteering to coach a sports team should need to worry about potential lawsuits when the team loses or if he cuts a player from the team when that player is, in his or her judgment, not good enough.

We also get super-dummy-proof everything. When I was a kid, we had playgrounds with sand or tanbark, and crazy jungle-gyms made from metal, wood, and old tires. Today’s new playgrounds are dull, generic pieces of plastic on padded carpet. None of my favorite childhood playgrounds would pass muster today. People are too afraid of being sued.

Besides, most of the money awarded in lawsuits goes straight to the lawyers. An extreme example from a class-action suit in Texas resulted in each plaintiff getting $5.50 from an insurance company, and the lawyers took home $8 million.

The answer, of course, is to sue all those psychiatrists, self-help book publishers and everyone else who taught us all to blame everyone but ourselves. Or maybe not.