To Sue or Not to Sue? That’s Not the Question!
Here’s a hoot, one for the books if not the law books. It is another reminder why occasionally I at least peruse the news if not read it.
An AP wire story on Monday from Albany NY ran the headline "Golfer blinded by bad shot sues pal." "Pal"? Are they serious? The lead was "Two doctors are playing golf on Long Island. One hits such a poor shot from the rough that it hits his partner … in the head. Whose fault is that?" Who cares? The question should be "Why is this in the courts at all?
Dr. A took his friend Dr. K to court. His argument was that his pal didn’t yell "fore". The incident occurred in 2002, eight years ago: eight years of judicial haggling over an accident that occurred between friends; eight years of spending public and private money to resolve an argument between friends. I imagine they aren’t friends now.
Does a doctor who can afford to live on Long Island need the money from a lawsuit? Maybe a doctor suing someone else thinks "turnabout is fair play." How about working it out between friends? Isn’t that what friends do, or is the court the only arena of resolution left to us?
The original court threw the suit out; an appellate court agreed. After eight years the case is in the state’s highest court. Eight years! Eight years of acrimony between friends. If it were not so sad, I would laugh even more.
The home page of the New York State Unified Court Systems states, "We hear more than three million cases a year involving almost every type of endeavor." I bet they do! If half their cases are as capricious as this one, no wonder the courts snarl. We have become a litigating society. If GNP stood for Gross National Paper-trail, we would rule the world.
Get this! The county once called me to a trial that had a doctor suing his lawyer for malpractice. You think I’m kidding? The lawyer lost a case on an investment gone south for which other doctors were suing his client. The case had already cost 80K of taxpayers’ money. The judge excused me when I publicly stated, "A doctor suing a lawyer for malpractice? The two deserve each other!" I subscribe to George Carlin’s notion that he would not want to be tried by twelve of his peers who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty. I wanted off that case. What a waste of time, energy and public money just to assuage some doctor’s ego.
Beyond losing sight in one eye I know nothing of why Dr. A is suing. The only information given in the article is that he no longer could work. Maybe he does need a pile of some insurance company’s money to keep him in the style to which he grew accustomed living on Long Island.
My non-paying job in Gilbert, Arizona, keeps me in the style to which I learned to adapt while working as a teacher. The good doctor could try writing instead of suing, or he could become a teacher. Our students mostly only threaten to sue us.
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