home

Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in Federal Court

By TChris, Section Judiciary
Posted on Thu Apr 14, 2005 at 01:54:59 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

by TChris

Businesses and professionals don't like to be sued when their carelessness leads to injury or death, and so their lobbyists have spread the myth that "tort reform" is needed to save us from frivolous lawsuits. A recent survey reveals that federal judges -- the people who should know best -- disagree with the proposition that frivolous litigation is a serious federal problem.

The survey, conducted by the Federal Judicial Center, was based on the responses of 278 federal district court judges. Seventy percent of the respondents called groundless litigation either a "small problem" or a "very small problem," and 15% said it was no problem at all. Only 1% called it a "very large problem," 2% called it a "large problem" and the rest rated it as a "moderate problem" in their courts.

< Operation FALCON: Publicity Stunt? | Pain Doctor Sentenced to 25 Years >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in Federal Court | 20 comments (20 topical)
    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#1)
    by marty on Thu Apr 14, 2005 at 02:13:08 PM EST
    And thus another Republican LIE is exposed.....I was homw today and caught some of the House debate on the Credit card Protection Atc, err..."bankruptcy" bill and heard the Repubs again using the "$400 per family" figure as the "penalty" paid by innocent AMericans due to the fraud of the few who file for bankruptcy! It is coincidental, of course, that the same "$400 per family" is the figure used for the "tort reform" fraud. Liars....plain and simple.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 14, 2005 at 02:48:25 PM EST
    Marty- Before you appear to be led by the nosering and start screaming silly foolish things like "LIARS!" (oops...too late), Please note that the Survey could also be read as 85% of Judges see a problem with the Number of Frivolous Lawsuits". In fact, the Title of this post is wholly inaccurate! They DO see a problem, it just doesn't seem to be as big of a deal to them! The complaining parties who are concerned about frivolous lawsuits are The Businesses and Insurance Companies that have to shell out for Attorneys and Court Costs to defend against them, not the Judges who are not affected one way or the other, since they have to be there anyway.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 14, 2005 at 04:24:41 PM EST
    Businesses and professionals also don't like to be sued when someone's stupidity leads to injury or death, and is discovered by laywers trolling for a juicy lawsuit either. So how about sensible tort reform?

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 14, 2005 at 06:02:25 PM EST
    I guess the judges do agree there is frivilous litigation though.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#5)
    by cp on Thu Apr 14, 2005 at 09:23:59 PM EST
    i think a more accurate headline would have been: "federal judges don't see frivilous litigation as a serious problem" it does affect them, it clogs up their dockets, causing worthy cases to take longer to be heard. funny thing though, if it were truly a serious problem, my suspicion is that the judges themselves would be pushing for greater restrictions in the filings of these types of cases. they aren't. that should be a clue right there. they would also be asserting more frivilous suit penalties than they currently do. another clue. if the republicans pushing for "tort reform" were honest, they would just attempt to pass legislation banning civil actions, period. end of "problem".

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 14, 2005 at 11:29:34 PM EST
    Well that is bush and business for you, "kill the worker's", and the families can't do a thing about it; normal business in the empire. Normal in the third world, non nation with no laws, but one, and we all know what that is, the rule of gold. so much fun in the land of freedom and justice, for the few, and powerful just like Mexico.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#7)
    by Johnny on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 12:29:02 AM EST
    God forbid big business have a chance of getting what they have coming... This ties in with the credit card protection act-oops I mean the bankruptcy reform bill. Protect Enron at all costs!

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 06:31:07 AM EST
    Clogged dockets are not that big of a deal, since the Judiciary seems to just keep scheduling things out farther- It is pretty ridiculous that cases can take YEARS to be heard. Fretting over a clogged docket is a lot smaller problem than the Small Businessman fretting over how he is going to pay the Atty fees.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#9)
    by nolo on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 07:36:31 AM EST
    Gerry, federal courts do care about clogged dockets. But tort cases take up a relatively small proportion of the average federal court docket. Take a look at the official statistics for civil actions heard in federal courts in 2003-2004 (note-- these are in .pdf format). And remember-- these stats don't cover the federal courts' criminal dockets.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 07:58:40 AM EST
    nolo- Glad to here it, and even proving more so why Federal Judges aren't as concerned about them as the people who actually have to spend extra time and treasure dealing with frivolous claims.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#11)
    by cp on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 09:31:53 AM EST
    true, most civil litigation is heard in state courts. yet, i've heard no complaints from state judges, concerned that frivilous cases are tying up their dockets either. further, frivilous suit penalties, asserted at the state court level, would make the news, for the same reason that million dollar medical malpractice awards do, because they are so very rare. kind of the old "man bites dog" syndrome. all of which leads back to the proposed "tort reform", a solution in search of an actual problem.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 09:56:07 AM EST
    "God forbid big business have a chance of getting what they have coming..." And what would that be Johnny? How dare they make a profit employing people and providing goods and services to those who choose to do business with them? Johnny, if you've got a better idea, then bring it on! Otherwise, it's all just so much snark, isn't it...

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 10:05:24 AM EST
    The point Iam trying to convey is that Thre people who are going to complain and be concerned the most about frivolous lawsuits are not the Judges, but the poor saps who are forced to spend time and money to deal with them. Judges have to be there anyway, and I am surprised that so many consider them to be more than the minor annoyance these cases are for them.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#14)
    by roger on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 10:15:49 AM EST
    Gerry, You should really visit a court someday. The Judges go ballistic over frivolous arguments, let alone bogus lawsuits.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#15)
    by nolo on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 10:39:58 AM EST
    Gerry, you seem to be saying that federal judges don't care if the actions brought in their courts are frivolous or not since the judges have to be there anyway. As the kids would say, NOT. Believe you me, federal judges have a well-deserved reputation for getting very, very cranky if they think their time is being wasted on marginal claims.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 11:32:39 AM EST
    "Believe you me, federal judges have a well-deserved reputation for getting very, very cranky ...." ". The Judges go ballistic over frivolous arguments, let alone bogus lawsuits." Granted. But is that what they would consider a major problem? or an annoyance? I am good friends with a corporate atty, some of the idiotic filings she has to reply to (and bill her clients for) are always funny reads- but the businesses still are the ones who are having to shell out the atty fees to respond. From a Judges' perspective, if only 10% of the civil suits are what they consider "frivolous" (which is, after all, a subjective term- I and many others considered the "Damn this is Hot Coffee" lawsuit to be frivolous, a Judge apparently did not), It may not be that big of a deal (particularly since civil suits are already just a fraction of their dockets). The businesses and the people sued are the ones who are most concerned and most affected, and are the ones who will see there is a problem- not the Judge who just gets annoyed and moves on to the next case.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 12:27:32 PM EST
    I and many others considered the "Damn this is Hot Coffee" lawsuit to be frivolous, a Judge apparently did not
    Oh, the McDonald's coffee case canard. You really should acquaint yourself with the facts of that case. To help you start, here's a helpful Wall Street Journal article. As for what your corporate attorney friend has shared with you, I have no doubt that she's encountered a few things that make for good cocktail party conversation. Any attorney can. Any corporate attorney who's being honest can also tell you some pretty interesting stories about how they go about billing their clients, too. I'm not bringing this up to excuse shoddy or abusive lawyering, not by a long shot. Nor do I mean to impugn your friend or any particular group of lawyers. What I do mean to suggest, though, is that small companies can find themselves paying really steep legal fees for a number of reasons, not all of which relate directly to the merits of the claims brought against them. This is anecdotal, so take it for what it's worth. But I've been on the corporate defense side and on the plaintiff's side, and in both instances I've had the misfortune of witnessing some very serious overlawyering on the part of corporate litigation teams. Stuff like sending two or three attorneys to a routine hearing, conference or deposition when one would have been quite enough, papering the file with research memos that didn't really need to be prepared, and so on. It happens, and the less sophisticated the client is, the less likely the client is to catch it and put a stop to it. So, to finish my point, there's a lot more to the story than is meeting your eye, Gerry.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 01:15:07 PM EST
    Well, they're judges - of course you can't expect them to tell the truth about anything. Don't you know that 'activist judges' are in league with Islamic terrorists to destroy the fabric of American society? Haven't you been paying attention to what that nice Mr DeLay has been saying?

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 15, 2005 at 08:27:45 PM EST
    Dearest no name- I wouldn't be surprised there is overlawyering going on, but that just adds to the indignation and angst of having to go to court over a lot of frivolous things! My take on the whole McDoanlds thing is the woman was an idiot for putting it in her lap with the lid off to begin with! We as a population do way too many stupid things and then expect others to take the blame and give them money. Now there are stupid warning labels on everything, it is ridiculous.

    Re: Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in (none / 0) (#20)
    by nolo on Sat Apr 16, 2005 at 07:51:29 AM EST
    Noname was me. It's getting pretty clear to me that you're going to hold your opinion no matter what the facts are, Gerry. Since I'm not a big believer in miracles, I'm going to quit having this debate with you.

    Survey: Frivolous Litigation Not a Problem in Federal Court | 20 comments (20 topical)