Ever been “slapped” with a lawsuit? “Slapp” stands for strategic limitation against private parties. If a big corporation slaps you with a lawsuit it is very intimidating and downright frightening and all the parties involved in suing you know this! This is why so many of us will be shocked enough to stop immediately whatever our actions are that brought the too often frivolous lawsuit against us.
If we cease and desist then those bringing the lawsuit against us will likely drop the issue because they usually are not looking for any type of court battle. They just simply slap someone with a lawsuit primarily to scare the other party into retreat…and it works.
No small party or one person typically has the time or resources to fight the “big boys” like land developers or local, county and state government, the federal government or big corporations. Big business and government, as well as rich and/or powerful individuals most often win any type of legal “shootout” or battle against the “little guys” in America primarily because the little guys fear the fight and can be wiped out financially in court costs and attorney fees.
People also fear legal retributions which keep them from fighting back for their legal rights. To fight back, try incorporating your particular cause. If you incorporate your cause making your “cause” a legal corporation then you can at least look into purchasing insurance that helps to protect yourself personally against any type of s.l.a.p.p. lawsuits.
No lawsuit is won or lost until a judge or jury decides who is right and wrong. We could possibly win many lawsuits if we just had the time, guts and resources to fight back.
Frivolous lawsuits do more to intimidate and silence the opposition. The U.S. justice system openly invites this kind of legal extortion. The only potential remedy against frivolous lawsuits is if the loser has to pay all attorney and court costs for both parties in the dispute.
For example, frivolous lawsuits increase the costs of new cars by hundreds of dollars, pacemakers for heart patients cost patients hundreds of dollars more, football helmets, even haircuts can cost you more per haircut due to frivolous lawsuits against hairdressers for bad haircuts and too much of the money may be going to pay for high powered attorney fees.
Just the threat of a possible lawsuit hinders advances in technology and medicine. No company likes to take chances on new products or medications if they have to worry about potentially bankrupting lawsuits. Products for sale are sometimes even taken off the shelves out of fear of potential frivolous lawsuits.
Girl Scout camps, little league coaches and even cooks for charity food giveaways have been sued frivolously and the field is fertile for taking advantage of the liberal U.S. justice system. Remember, too often it is the attorneys on both sides that actually win while the citizenry ends up paying the bill.
Too often attorneys run the system and even half of all legislators elected to Congress are attorneys. In too many court cases these days truth may just be a by-product of the process with the U.S. justice system possibly being more about legal combat, distortion, deception and trickery all to shade the facts to be more favorable to a particular side of the cause or case instead of seeking the truth.
A class action lawsuit is when lots of people band together to bring a lawsuit against a big corporation or the government and they sue for money damages due to a faulty product or service which has allegedly caused a lot of people pain, injury, suffering and/or death.
In a frivolous class action lawsuit all those involved in filing suit against someone may only receive a few dollars in damages compared to the millions of dollars the attorneys can reap in monetary judgments won. Frivolous class action lawsuits cost each U.S. consumer about $1200 a year in higher costs for goods and services. Critics charge class action lawsuit abuse too often serves the attorneys’ interests possibly at the expense of the group being harmed with those that have been injured by a faulty product or service functioning more like pawns in a chess game.
SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCES: ABC-TV 20/20 1/2/96 and CNBC-TV STEALS AND DEALS 12/14/95 and KIPLINGERS PERSONAL FINANCE MAGAZINE JANUARY 2002