What sort of world do we live in where a man must pay his ex-fiancée $118,000 in emotional damages and counseling costs for breaking off an engagement? Do we want our children growing up believing that if they pull a box from the bottom of a stack and the stack falls on them, that the store is responsible for their pain? I think not; but this is indeed the world we live in. It has become common practice in our society to pass blame for an action onto anyone who can take it; or to punish a man for acting well within his rights.

Gordon Gecko said, "Greed is good," and apparently America agrees with him. According to Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI), in an essay published by Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, the US spent $132 billion dollars in 1991 on court costs, awards, and lost time. Imagine how that figure has sky-rocketed in recent years. Just recently, the second largest civil award in Illinois state history was awarded to a woman who got caught under a train because she would not let go of her violin case (Armstrong). Now I am not saying the train company owes her nothing; they were responsible for the loss of her violin and whatever injuries resulted from the immediate closing of the doors. They are not responsible for injuries resulting from her not letting go of her violin case, that is absurd. Professor Richard Epstein, of the University of Chicago Law School, said in regards to this case, "You’re treating the tort system not as a system designed to prevent accidents, but as a kind of social welfare system with unlimited benefits at the back end of it (Armstrong A10)."

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