Signs Of The Time, Part 5
Move over baseball. Suing is now the national pastime. And it’s getting more ridiculous as personal accountability becomes increasingly endangered in America. Consider the following from MarketWatch this morning:
Ex-lawyer sues casinos over gambling compulsion
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) – A former lawyer and media commentator who lost nearly $1 million from gambling is claiming in a lawsuit that the casinos at which she played had a duty to notice her compulsion and to stop her, the Associated Press reported.
Arelia Margarita Taveras filed a $20 million racketeering suit in U.S. District Court in New Jersey. The suit names six casinos in New Jersey and one in Las Vegas as defendants.
Taveras told AP that the casinos’ staffers saw her gambling for days without eating or sleeping and that “they had a duty of care to me.”
The casinos deny that they did anything wrong. AP reported that the casinos responded to the lawsuit by saying that Taveras caused her own problems.
Attorneys told AP that Taveras, a New Yorker who now works at a call center in Minnesota, would have a difficult time proving her allegations…
Not a day goes by that I don’t hear of another frivolous lawsuit, it seems. For those who routinely follow the news, you’d think there was something else more headline-worthy? Is it me, or does the traditional media just completely reek of tabloid journalism? Apparently, it’s not me. According to a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,302 U.S. adults surveyed online between January 15 and 22, 2008, over half of Americans (54%) say they tend not to trust the media, with only 30% tending to trust the press. Just under half of Americans (46%) say they do not trust television, while one-third (36%) do trust them. Internet news and information sites did better, as 41% of Americans trust them while just one-third (34%) tend not to trust them. Harris Interactive found that radio tends to do best among Americans as 44% say they tend to trust it and one-third (32%) tend not to trust the medium.
Regardless, the days of America as THE litigious society (the United States has 70% of the world’s lawyers, yet only 5% of its population) may be coming to an end, if only for the reason that there may not be any law schools left. Not really, but, consider this story from Vesna Jaksic for The National Law Journal back on December 18, 2007. In “Don’t Like Your Grade? Sue Your Law School,” Jaksic writes:
Call it practical training.
Unhappy with their exam grades, their law schools’ readmission policies and even administrators’ conduct, a number of law students have sued their law schools in recent months.
A group of students filed a $120 million class action against the American Justice School of Law in Paducah, Ky., on Nov. 17, citing allegations that include tax fraud, false representation to the American Bar Association, racketeering, scheming to defraud students and obstruction of justice…
Late last month, Adam Key, a second-year law student, sued Regent University School of Law, a private Christian school in Virginia Beach, Va., claiming violations of his right to free speech and religion after getting expelled for posting a critique in an online university forum…
On Nov. 14, John Valente, a second-year student at University of Dayton School of Law in Ohio, filed a complaint against his school, citing negligence in dealing with exam software…
Whatever the reason, the suits are piling up — and law schools are busy dealing with them.
Considering the applicable experience these law students are gaining from their suits, do you think they’ll note this on their resumes?
Sources:
“Ex-lawyer sues casinos over gambling compulsion”
MarketWatch, March 9, 2008
“Don’t Like Your Grade? Sue Your Law School”
Vesna Jaksic
The National Law Journal, December 18, 2007
March 10th, 2008 at 6:07 am
But the dateline is Tel Aviv. Is this person even an American citizen? I don’t disagree with your thesis that we are a litigious society in which personal accountability has disappeared, but this person’s suit may not help the argument.
March 10th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Thanks for the comment Rick. I was wondering about “Tel Aviv.” However, several other American news outlets have been picking up on the story.
“I don’t disagree with your thesis that we are a litigious society in which personal accountability has disappeared, but this person’s suit may not help the argument.” Okay. How about any of the contenders for the Stella Awards, which were inspired by Stella Liebeck, who in 1992 spilled a cup of McDonald’s coffee onto her lap, burning herself, and collected $2.9 million in damages from a lawsuit?
The Stella Awards
http://www.stellaawards.com/
March 12th, 2008 at 1:31 am
I would love for this woman to get in contact with me. I would love to suggest a Class Action Suit. There are many of us in the USA alone that can tell the same Gambling addiction story as hers.
If you could understand this addiction, you would not jest about the lawsuit.
I read somewhere else online a while back about a Businessman in Austraila suing casinos along the same lines and making headway.
I also worked at one of the local “Indian Gaming” casinos, and we are trained by law about customers who might suffer from gambling addictions. There are pamplets on well hidden counters within the casinos to offer help and support but no one does anything.
We see the people on the floor that stay for days or hours too long, they don’t eat, drink, they ask people to watch thier seats when they have to make the bathroom. They make withdrawal after withdrawal from the atm’s and cash checks.
And, if you have a player card, the casino notices that your spending tons of money in thier establishment, and they want you there! Whether you are sick or not. They send you freebies, limo rides, comps…. Knowing you will play longer, spend more…
ok, enuff of my rambling… but Gambling addiction is a sad life and I live it. Even Gambler Anon rarely helps as most of the people going are still actively gambling. There is no drug or patch to help and even if your broke, then you steal… it never ends till the end?
Serious help is Needed !
And, there is a University in Nevada doing a study on this addiction, did you know there are some people who wear DIAPERS, cause they know they won’t get up from in front of that slot, or card table and cra_ thier pants.
March 13th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Thanks for the comment vallie.
“If you could understand this addiction, you would not jest about the lawsuit.”
Believe me, the post was not written “in jest.” The point I was trying to make is that a decline in personal accountability is showing up in frivolous lawsuits. While each type of addiction has its own unique characteristics, there remains a common denominator. In most cases, the individual willingly chose to commit the act which led to the eventual addiction. No one held a gun up to them and forced them to smoke, drink, gamble, eat junk food, etcetera. As such, I don’t understand the logic behind holding others responsible for our individual acts— regardless of whether or not an “enabler” was present. The fact is, there are “enablers” everywhere in life.
Sorry vallie, I’m going to have to disagree with you here. But I do respect your opinion, and my heart and prayers go out to gambling addicts everywhere.