A $65,000,000.00 Pair of Pants?
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Ridiculous claims get dismissed.
Discretion, rather than immediate judgment, is always best when a claim is first made. But some claims seem to bring attention to themselves along with immediate and final condemnation. The dry cleaning pants case is one of those cases. This is a commercial case not a personal injury case and in all civil cases, damages must have some reasonable relationship to the damaged items actual value.
In this case the conclusion is obvious and the general public should, along with Rosie O'Donnell hold off judging the entire system by calling for "tort deform". It's just as ridiculous to blame the entire system for this claim, as it would be to condemn Ms. O'Donnell for the Imus situation. In fact condemning Imus or firing him when his corporate employer has encouraged the behavior seems to be ridiculous. Probably just as ridiculous as someone dropping off at the dry cleaners a pair of pants they claim are worth $65,000,000.00. Should we judge all TV hosts because of a few bad apples? The same applies to law suit litigants and the lawyers that provide legal services within the system.
It's all too common today for judgment to be heaped on groups when one member steps out of line. Groups or people with an ax to grind seem all too eager to jump all over this case to heap condemnation on the entire system. Why might that be? Ask yourself, what do they have to gain and why aren't they more worried about problems in their own profession? I have no idea what would motivate a customer to file a $65,000,000.00 lawsuit over a pair of pants, but as a lawyer it shocks me. It is equally shocking for me to hear commentators call for tort deform as if it were a measured response. Those who call for such measures are the same ones who in the future will be sitting in some lawyers office asking for justice and then whining when they are told, "Not by me.".
The legal system is not in the ratings business or increasing a corporation's bottom line. The legal system was designed to resolve disputes. Think of the claim for $65,000,000.00 in the same way as Joe Namath bragging before the game about the anticipated score. It's nothing more than that. And those who condemn the entire system should open up their own lives to scrutiny so that we can see what if any ax they have to grind. They legal system isn't a sitcom or a talk show. And it won't change for the better by deforming the rule of law.
As my mother was fond of saying, "What goes around comes around. Treat people the way you'd like to be treated." If you expect your rights to be enforced then stop before you condemn the entire system calling for knee jerk changes to the laws or the system that enforces them. Last I checked Rosie and others have no law degree and when on the air aren't under oath. They have no requirement to be fair just to attract sponsors. Look at what is being said and ask yourself if it makes ANY sense. Trust me, in this case it doesn't.