San Francisco Examiner, June 20, 2007
BALTIMORE - Remember Roy Pearson, the administrative law judge in Washington suing his dry cleaners for mishandling a pair of pants? He originally wanted $67 million. He awaits judgment. The lawsuit is so ridiculous it defies comprehension and makes a mockery of our legal system.
While Pearson’s financial claim may dwarf those of other frivolous lawsuits, he is not alone in filing them — and in driving up the costs all of us must pay for goods and services as a result.
One of the most recent cases involves Anne Volpe, an Owings Mills resident. She filed suit against T.J. Maxx at 9616 Reisterstown Road in Owings Mills in Baltimore County Circuit Court for $550,000 earlier this month, claiming she broke her arm as a result of a hanger on the floor.
Volpe “fell to the ground with great force and violence, causing injury,” according to the lawsuit.
As a result, she experiences “great pain and mental anguish” and “will continue to suffer a severe shock to her nerves and nervous system.”
We are sorry she fell, but $550,000 in no way corresponds to the severity of the injury.
And a hanger on the floor in no way indicates the store created an unsafe environment. Does Ms. Volpe expect someone to shadow her and every other patron in the store while they shop to ensure nothing falls on the floor? It’s a clothing store. Hangers fall. Clothes fall. Besides, people go to discount retailers like T.J. Maxx expecting cramped racks and a few strewn items. It’s part of the process of finding a great designer bargain. Any veteran of Filene’s Basement’s annual wedding gown sale can tell you about a hostile retail environment. A stray hanger does not even register on the scale of “unsafe.”
The judge who draws the case should throw it out. Immediately. If a jury decides it, it must find for the company. If the Ann Volpes of the world get their way, T.J. Maxxes wouldn’t exist. They couldn’t afford the legal fees.
And as Mike Kostinsky and Todd Lamb wrote in these pages recently, frivolous lawsuits often bankrupt small businesses, the same companies responsible for creating about 75 percent of new jobs and employing half of those in the private sector. And according to “Jackpot Justice: The True Cost of America’s Tort System,” a recent study from the conservative Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco, tort abuse costs Americans $865 billion a year in higher costs for goods and services.
So while Volpe’s case may not seem like much, her suit, combined with all the others around the nation, makes life more expensive for everyone. It does not deserve to go forward.
