Beau+M’s+2016+OpEd+Article

James Madison understood the genius of a three house system, and marveled at how such a design could ensure that Leaders in control of supreme judicial power could not abuse this power to impair the freedoms of citizens. However, he also believed that collecti ve groups of citizens, under a popular banner, such as political factions, could in turn abuse judicial power to further their own political agenda. Fast-forward some 200 odd years later and we can see he was only partially right.

We have made a mockery of our great judicial system. Single citizens now have the ability to abuse our system through civil court cases. In 1994 Stella Liebeck spilled hot coffee on herself and was awarded 2.86 million dollars for medical bills, loss of income and personal damages. As time passes increasing numbers of completely ludicrous lawsuits are presented to the courts and seriously considered as an apt use of time and taxpayer dollars to pay judges.

Since 1950 Tort (a branch of civil law in which a wrong unfairly causes another harm) litigation costs have increased almost three times faster than The United Stated GPD (GPD stands for gross domestic product which gauges the status of a country’s economy). In fact civil cases of all sorts have exponentially grown in number as time passes. Excessive civil litigation causes corporations, organizations, and ordinary citizens alike to shell out billions yearly over many cases that have no place in a courtroom.

Not only do superfluous lawsuits clog up the judiciary system on all levels, but they also cost the United States as a whole, much needed jobs. A study from 1997 shows that from a survey of 500 US CEOs, lawsuits alone caused 15% of those companies to lay off workers(”US Senate Commerce Committee Report on Product Liability Reform Act of 1997”). Fraudulent workers comp. reports and cases such and the Leibeck vs McDonalds hold no place in the courtroom and not only slander the name of the United States Judiciary System, but screw other hard working people out of jobs. Now I’m not saying that all civil court cases have no place in front of a Judge, certainly there are great injustices done that deserve compensation. What I am saying though is that there needs to be a great reform within our Judicial System, because even cases that are thrown out still cost large sums of money in spiraling legal fees. It’s time to truly consider what deserves to be judged under the scrutinizing light of justice and liberty.