{"id":219,"date":"2010-10-01T10:57:31","date_gmt":"2010-10-01T14:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=219"},"modified":"2012-03-19T15:24:16","modified_gmt":"2012-03-19T19:24:16","slug":"so-who-sues-besides-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=219","title":{"rendered":"So who sues (besides me)?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c…[i]t is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part.\u201d \u2013 James Madison, The Federalist No. 51.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last New Year\u2019s Eve I was at a party telling a couple of women I know about my lawsuits. One woman said, \u201cI had an accident once but I didn\u2019t sue.\u201d She\u2019d tripped over an overlapping rubber mat in her lobby, fell hard and was injured. \u201cBut why didn\u2019t you sue?\u201d I asked her. \u201cIt was my own building,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt like it was my fault, I felt guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other woman chimed in; she, too, had had an accident but didn\u2019t sue. \u201cIt\u2019s so expensive for the system and everything,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t like lawyers,\u201d the first one said, wrinkling her nose.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re always performing, they\u2019re like actors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both women had recurring physical problems from their accidents.\u00a0 Both clearly disapproved of me, for suing.<\/p>\n

The biggest problem they had? They were wrong. About everything. They should have sued.<\/p>\n

So many people I know wind up involved in litigation because shit does happen. And the longer we live, the more likely it is that shit will happen to us.<\/p>\n

Some shit that actually happened:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b0Ever been in an automobile accident?<\/p>\n

\u00b0Ever been fired from a job and\/or been discriminated against?\u00a0 Hey, if you\u2019re a woman, you\u2019ve been discriminated against…as well as suddenly having your very pretty and perky breasts grabbed in an elevator by the apparently pleasant family guy who has the office next to yours.\u00a0 (That’s sexual assault, as well as a bunch of other legal causes of action.)<\/p>\n

\u00b0Ever sit in a conference room listening for the very first time to a delightful new song, recorded by a famous singer and composed by a couple of legendary songwriters as the title song for a TV documentary, when your employer – the very guy who commissioned the song – announces to the room at large, \u201cI\u2019m not going to have some fag sing my title song!\u201d and storms out? And then you get a call from an executive for the record company asking if you\u2019d be their chief witness to this egregious breach of contract?<\/p>\n

Okay, well, maybe that never happened to you, but somewhere, somehow you\u2019ve been aware of breaches of agreement, been threatened or defamed, discriminated against, bought a tainted, falsely advertised or under-tested product, lived in or near a disease cluster.<\/p>\n

Maybe, as I already mentioned, you\u2019ve bought a few shares of some publicly traded company. So you too might find yourself invited to become part of a class action lawsuit. And I know you\u2019ve been outraged by some major or minor injustice and certainly have been pissed off at your landlord, your upstairs neighbor or your co-op board. If you\u2019re still breathing and live in New York City, you\u2019ve had some real estate dispute.<\/p>\n

Before I began Sidebar<\/strong>, off-handedly I asked my friends and family if anybody knew of any lawsuits. I was amazed: almost everybody<\/em> I know has gotten involved at least once in a lawsuit or\u00a0 precursor to a lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Later I’ll tell you their stories.<\/p>\n

Summation<\/strong><\/p>\n