Quote:
Originally posted by SVRACER01
FINE.... but you understand my point. this incident opened the fllodgates for thousands of other stupid lawsuits |
skewered media perception of how the court system works provided for that idea. the truth is that it did *not* open the flood gates. to establish a prima facia case for damages under a tort action, a number of elements have to be shown. One of which is that a legal duty is owed and followed. "stupid law suits" often get dismissed before they ever make it into court, b/c no such duty is owed, or b/c the defendat is not the proximate case of the injury suffered (i.e. the woman is the cause of the coffee being split, but the excessive tempature of the coffee, and thus the 3rd degree burns, were proxmatlly cased by McDonalds, not the woman). moreover, the dumb suits that *do* go forward often rest on dumb laws that the legislator passed, not b/c some old woman wanted to go after McDonalds for violating a reasonable saftey standard.