I Believe We May Have Too Many, But Then What?

Reader’s Digest has  a somewhat regular feature called ” Outrageous,” which is written by Michael Crowley. It features articles about actual events that are almost impossible to believe in their audacity. Of course, politicians are  a frequent subject. There is  another group that makes regular appearances. Theses are our good friends from the legal profession. There were 2 items in his year-end article involving those legal eagles that so irritated me that I could not  narrow it down and thus felt compelled to comment on both.

But first, a few numbers. There were, as of 2007 , almost 1.2 million attorneys in the Unite States. Depending on whose numbers one cites, we seem to have about 1/2 the world’s total. The legal profession is the #1 profession for members of Congress. And, good old Washington. D.C. has more lawyers than all but 6 states. But this next  one  caught me by surprise. Only slightly more than 1/2 of our Presidents have been attorneys.

On to the patently outrageous. his event took place in  Salem, Ma. A young man driving a Ford Mustang ran head on into  a Honda van. The driver of the Mustang( who w as driving way over the posted speed limit ) was  injured . His passenger was severely injured as was the driver of the other vehicle. Pay close attention to this next. The father of the passenger who was injured filed  a lawsuit against the driver of the van, who, according to authorities, had done nothing amiss. The lawsuit said that she carelessly and negilently failed to avoid the  vehicle which hit her. The attorney’s  explanation, ” Under Massachusetts law, I’m trying to get compensation for my client anywhere I can.”  From an untrained perspective, it seems to view that the point being made was that the driver of the van was somehow at fault, wrong place, wrong time, or maybe just had more insurance. Outcome, don’t know.

Example #2  and this outcome, we know. The even in question took place a few years ago and was settled this year. It took place in State Island, NY and involved Little League baseball.This one on some level actually made some sense, at least as  compared to example#1. A young man incurred serious knee damage sliding into second base. The base was detachable and thus designed to prevent injury. The manager said he had taught the young man to slide properly. However, his mom sued the manager, the coach who told  him o  go to second and the state and national Little League. She ultimately  settled   for $125,000. Probably the saddest part of the story is the attorney telling ESPN The Magazine that he had been flooded with calls about other parents desiring representation. Ahhhh!!

So, too many lawyers, too many laws or what? Wish I could say. But do you e remember any news articles bemoaning the shortage of attorneys in a given area in the way there is  a shortage of physicians? Me neither.

I have to ask this. Wonder if either of the above cases would have been settled differently under Obamacare? Just kidding, a little.