Overzealous lawsuits, justice for none

We’ve all heard about them at parties, seen a “news article” on Facebook, or received something in a chain email from a friend. Whether it’s from coffee that’s too hot, a burglar suing because they hurt themselves trying to rob someone, or even a man suing a beer company because his cool refreshing drink didn’t make beautiful women materialize out of thin air.

Of course, I am talking about frivolous lawsuits. Overwhelmingly awful wastes of people’s time and money. Recently, I was reading some news and came across an article in the Oregonian about a woman in Washington county who is suing the Salvation Army, not because they are an army, but because she hurt herself unloading her own donation.

The $60,445 claim was filed by Ruth Stobbe-Moore, who had delivered a Brookstone massage chair that she and her husband had loaded into their truck at home for donation, When she got to the store, she was told by an employee to back up her pick-up to the off-loading area.

Then according to the suit, after waiting for however long she determined to be long enough, she decided enough is enough, it’s time for action!

So, does she peek in the back door and bellow out a simple “Yoo-hoo” to see if she can get a hand? Nope. Does she walk back to the front of the store to tell the employee she’s good to go? Nope.

Instead she decides to channel her inner Xena, and She-Hulk the chair all by her lonesome onto the loading bay. This feat of gymnastic prowess, and herculean strength consequently ended with the chair falling out of the back of her pick-up and on top of her. The falling chair, which she thought she could sherpa on her own, turned out to be heavy enough to cause “severe and permanent injuries.”

Now, I am not intending to make light of her injury, I don’t feel it’s funny when anyone gets hurt, but what I found out next, made me laugh out loud, as well as die a bit on America’s behalf on the inside.

She sues not only the Salvation Army for among other things failing to tell her “that she should return at a later time bringing someone to help her move the chair.” But she’s also suing “John Doe” A.K.A. the guy who told her that donations are made around back!

It is a sad world we live in where this kind of suit is even picked up by an attorney, let alone allowed to make it into a court of law without a judge just laughing directly in the lawyer’s face.

This is an another example of what has become all too common of a problem in modern american society, a lack of personal accountability.

Why should I take the blame for my own mistakes and faulty judgement if I can pass the buck to this charitable organization?

Rather than do what most people SHOULD do, and say “Well, I jumped the gun and made a mistake.” We see people saying “Well yeah, I jumped the gun, but you didn’t tell me I could ask other people for help.”

This is a charity, and they obviously appreciate donations, and I imagine they have people there that are happy to help when they are available to do so. But it’s no one’s responsibility to come-a-runnin’ and be on your time table because you want to drop off a chair and you’re too impatient to wait for help.

Also it is absolutely ridiculous to blame the company because you couldn’t figure out that you could leave and come back later without being told.

I just hope that one day soon, people stop looking to make a fast dollar, and stop blaming everyone else for the problems you create entirely on your own.

In addition, I hope that no one shies away from donating to organizations like the Salvation Army because people have blamed them for their own misdoings. Above all, I just hope that people realize that the only people who really win on these kinds of interactions are the attorneys and everyone else loses.