‘I am the Law’
Rochelle and I have now lived in America for seven years. In that short space of time we have been sued twice. I’m not sure if this is a remarkable regularity for Americans, but given that in my entire existence in England previous to that I had never been sued at all, it does seem somewhat astonishing to us.
On one occasion, a driver, without a valid license or registration for his vehicle, was in an accident with ours and proceeded to sue us subsequently for damages to his jacket and tie. It was raining. We stood outside in the rain together. We actually sheltered under the same umbrella which had been kindly donated to us by a member of the church who happened to be passing. The legal procedure was dropped in the end. I know someone has sued for slipping on a back porch because it was wet when it was raining. I ask you: do people have nothing better to do with their time?
Common attitude
The attitude is astonishingly commonplace. One acquaintance remarked immediately after his wife had been in an accident that this was great because now they could sue the person. If you are in a car accident, however minor, you are advised to call the police and wait with the cars in their positions as they hit each other, so that the police can record the apparent angle of contact and so function as some kind of protection against invalid lawsuits.
