According to the American Bar Association, there are more than one million lawyers in the United States. This means that one in about every 300 people in the United States is an attorney.

America is increasingly becoming a litigious society. With less than 5% of the world’s population, our society boasts about 70% of the world’s lawyers. 18 million lawsuits are filed annually, clogging the dockets and forcing the wheels of justice to grind more slowly and creak more loudly than ever before.

Is there something wrong with the Americal legal system? To me, this story shows us that there is.

Roy Pearson, a lawyer in Washington DC and recently appointed to the bench, wanted to show up for his first day on the job as a judge wearing his gray pants with the red stripes. The only problem was that the dry cleaner had lost the pants. This, I am sure, put a slight damper on his buoyant spirits. Everyone wants to show up for the first day on a new job feeling confident in their clothing choices. Roy Pearson didn’t get to wear those pants. However, he is still a judge and well, we move on from disappointments, don’t we?

Judge Pearson hasn’t moved on. In fact, he is suing the immigrant owners of the dry cleaning store for his pants and his inconvenience. He calculates these to be worth $67 million.

That’s right, $67 million dollars because the dry cleaners couldn’t find his favorite pair of pants. In addition to the pants, he claims damages such as “mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort,”. Apparently, all his other pants are a bit tight, which is why he took them to the Chungs in the first place. He wanted an alteration that costs $10.50. He is also asking for ten years worth of car rentals to transport his pants to another dry cleaner and although he represents himself in the case, has added attorney’s fees onto his already outrageous monetary demand.

The owners of the dry cleaners are Korean immigrants who, like so many, came to the US seeking the American dream. Now, after spending thousands of dollars in legal fees, Jin and Soon Chung wonder if they wouldn’t have been better off staying in Korea.

I have a hard time imagining that a jury is going to be very sympathetic to Judge Pearson’s case. The very first settlement offer the Chungs made to him – at $3000 – was already more than three times what the pants were worth and they upped the offer considerably to as much as $12,000 for the $800 pair of pants. In the meantime, the Chungs say they have found the lost pants, but Pearson continues to pursue his lawsuit.

Sarah Vasquez, 22, and her mother, Natalie Fornaciari, 46 are suing Best Buy and their “Geek Squad”, alleging that the computer technician they sent to their house used a cell phone to record Vasquez taking a shower.

The law suit allegess that Hao Kuo Chi, 26, placed the cell phone in the bathroom, and set it to record. The 22 year old woman noticed it after showering and went to tell her sister. The phone then disappeared from the bathroom and subsequently showed up in the 13 year old sister’s bedroom.

It’s definitely the age of technology, even for perverts. The Internet that brought immediacy of communication and information also brought hackers, spyware and spam, combining convenience with annoyance. Cell phone cameras allow people to share important moments of their lives – the birth of a baby, a high-school graduation – with family far away by transmitting photos immediately, phone to phone.

But we’ve also learned to be aware of the possibility of cell phone cams being used to record pin numbers and credit card numbers at checkouts and ATMs. Now there are other reasons to be concerned about privacy.

Still, there’s something almost exculpatory about the name, isn’t there? The Geek Squad. They called for a geek, and so that’s what they got. They probably didn’t imagine they would get the kind of geek who would sneak around to obtain potty shots with his cell phone camera. What kind of world is it when you can’t trust a geek?

Every once in a while there is a story that can’t be categorized as anything but heartwarming. A story that bolsters your faith in human nature and shows the good that people are capable of, even in the face of stress and hardship, even when the good deed benefits the one who is the root of your misfortune.

Genevieve Zumuda, 77, had taken her tenant of one year, La Tina Osborne to court. A working mother, La Tina is a pediatric nurse. To have trouble with the landlady can make for a stressful life if you’re a woman trying to provide a home for your family.

While LaTina was presenting her side of the case, she looked over at Zamuda and noticed something strange about her. Her eyes were rolled back into her head and she was shaking. La Tina forgot the tension of the moment and following the instincts of a nurse and her training, went over to the elderly woman to assess her condition. She found that Zamuda wasn’t breathing.

And right there in the same courtroom in which she was being sued, La Tina started performing CPR on her ailing landlady until paramedics arrived with a defibrillator. A heartbeat was regained and Zamuda was transported to a local hospital. La Tina Osborne had saved her life.

I don’t know which cliche best fits the situation: Turn the other cheek? Do unto others, etc? Maybe what La Tina said sums it up best.

“When people are down, if you can help them, you help them”.

Defendant Nurse Saves Plantiff In Pa. Civil Court

This comes under the category “Now I’ve heard everything”.

According to the Daily Mail, at the Royal High School in Bath, England, schoolchildren as young as seven years old were left to negotiate their way across a street through busy traffic because their crossing guard called in sick.

The teachers and staff were instructed not to assist the children because they hadn’t received proper health and safety training.

Apparently, they can be entrusted to teach children and mold their minds but can’t be trusted to cross the street.

The bottom line is litigation, of course. The school doesn’t want to be sued if there is an accident. And I thought Americans were lawsuit-happy.

Lollipop police ban teachers from helping children to cross the road