Are we too litigious?

Illinois Hospital Faces Lawsuit After Switching Babies
Why, yes. Yes, we are. I would think the parents would be happy that the situation was resolved as quickly as it was, and that they’d be simply relieved to have their correct children back.
Why does this require a lawsuit? What damages are there? How do you put a price on a little bit of suffering?
Come on, people. They took care of the problem the very same day. Take a deep breath and take a chill pill. No lawsuit is needed, and neither family suffered $50K worth of pain and suffering, regardless of what their opportunistic lawyer says.
Oh — and what’s his fee for this? I doubt he’s taking the case pro bono.

Anderson school uniform couple apparently smoking crack

Remember these morons?

ANDERSON, Ind. — A woman who sued the Anderson school district over its new dress code is ineligible to run for a seat on the school board because she registered to vote too late, the county election director said.
Laura Bell did not register to vote in Madison County in time for her registration to be active, elections director Mary Retherford said Monday.
Retherford said it usually takes seven days for a voter who has registered to be removed from “pending” status, at which time the registration becomes active.
Laura Bell and her husband, Scott Bell, filed as candidates Friday in the May election. Laura Bell registered to vote that same day.

Wow! A real social activist! Not even registered to vote throughout all of this? You’d think she woul have registered months ago just to vote against the incumbent school board.

The couple represented themselves in court in a federal lawsuit claiming the district’s uniform policy violated state guarantees of a free education and students’ right to free expression. A federal judge dismissed the suit in August and in December ordered the Bells to pay nearly $41,000 in legal costs.

Yep. And I’ll bet they haven’t paid one thin dime of that. Yet they seem to have the money to pay filing fees. And either they planned on a word-of-mouth whispering campaign or they figured yard signs and literature and TV ads grow on trees.

The Bells have four children in the school system.

And sadly enough, they still have custody of them.

What ought to happen here is the judge should rule that any filing fees paid to the election board must be paid over to the court, and that Scott Bell’s candidacy is null and void until he pays the judgement against him.

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Note: Link to original article at IndyStar broken as of 20191014.  Figures, right?

Somebody call a waaaaahmbulance.

Laura and Scott Bell took on their school district’s new dress code, but their lawsuit was booted from court after they missed critical deadlines and pressed claims that a judge deemed frivolous.
Four months later, the judge has ordered them to pay up for the trouble.
The Bells now are on the hook for $40,931.50, the amount Anderson Community Schools said its law firm charged for fending off the couple’s lawsuit in July and August. The couple represented themselves in court.
U.S. District Judge John D. Tinder’s decision underlines the risk of wading into legal waters without a lawyer. The danger is higher in litigation, where paying the winning side’s attorney fees is common.
“What in the hell are we supposed to do?” Laura Bell asked, noting that the amount is more than the family’s annual income. “It’s flat ridiculous.”

What you’re supposed to do is STFU and pay the hell up, dumbass. You had a fool for a lawyer, and your lawyer had a fool for a client.

The National Judicial College in Reno, Nev., addresses the issue in its courses for state court judges. William F. Dressel, a former judge and the college’s president, said Tinder gave the Bells fair warning.
“What the judge did is correctly utilize and apply the law,” he said.
Just before Tinder dismissed the case, the Bells asked him to appoint counsel. He declined, in part because “the claims’ chance of success is slim.”
Self-represented litigants in federal court have few resources available to them, said John Floreancig, general counsel for the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society, which offers limited legal assistance to Marion County residents.
He wasn’t shocked by the ruling against the Bells.
“Unfortunately, that’s the hand you’re dealt when you go in pro se,” Floreancig said.

Yep. And finally:

With Christmas coming up and a family to support, Laura Bell said, “it’s going to sit there. I’m not paying it, obviously.”

Just don’t whine when the school district slaps a lien on your house and forecloses, or garnishes your husband’s paycheck. Or if the judge holds you in contempt and lets you think about it behind bars for a few days.
Read the whole thing here. The sidebar summarizing the case is useful.