there is a very strong extent to which the notion of “nonsense lawsuits” being an epidemic in America is pro-corporate propaganda
Really, it’s not. Every other country looks at the absolute chaos of lawsuit nonsense in America and recoils in horror.
Take the infamous McDonald’s coffee lawsuit, for example. The woman in question received third-degree burns.
Sure, and in most countries that would be solved by good regulations not lawsuits. As you said, they’d received multiple reports of it being a problem, but the US laissez-faire system means that corporations are free to do whatever they want until someone gets severely injured. In a properly run country this woman would never have been injured, and if she was injured she wouldn’t have to rely on lawsuits to get her medical bills paid.
in most countries that would be solved by good regulations
Quite likely both, actually. Good regulations help reduce the chance of it happening, but if it does happen, damage is done. Regulations might mean they receive a fine, but that doesn’t make the victim of their negligence whole. Medical bills aren’t all there is to it. There’s the cost of pain and suffering. Probably time off work. (And having good leave policies doesn’t necessarily help, because now that’s leave she’s used for this that she can’t use if she later needs to for another reason.) Cost of repair/cleaning the car. Lawsuits would still happen.
And anyway, I’m not defending American anti-regulation bs. I’m defending people’s right to sue companies that wronged them. In the absence of good regulations protecting consumers, suing a company that did the wrong thing isn’t “absolute chaos”. There is no “absolute chaos of lawsuit nonsense”. That is corporate propagandistic bullshit.
Really, it’s not. Every other country looks at the absolute chaos of lawsuit nonsense in America and recoils in horror.
Sure, and in most countries that would be solved by good regulations not lawsuits. As you said, they’d received multiple reports of it being a problem, but the US laissez-faire system means that corporations are free to do whatever they want until someone gets severely injured. In a properly run country this woman would never have been injured, and if she was injured she wouldn’t have to rely on lawsuits to get her medical bills paid.
Quite likely both, actually. Good regulations help reduce the chance of it happening, but if it does happen, damage is done. Regulations might mean they receive a fine, but that doesn’t make the victim of their negligence whole. Medical bills aren’t all there is to it. There’s the cost of pain and suffering. Probably time off work. (And having good leave policies doesn’t necessarily help, because now that’s leave she’s used for this that she can’t use if she later needs to for another reason.) Cost of repair/cleaning the car. Lawsuits would still happen.
And anyway, I’m not defending American anti-regulation bs. I’m defending people’s right to sue companies that wronged them. In the absence of good regulations protecting consumers, suing a company that did the wrong thing isn’t “absolute chaos”. There is no “absolute chaos of lawsuit nonsense”. That is corporate propagandistic bullshit.