"It all depends." The ever-pervasive element, the lawsuit, is no longer just an American "get rich scheme;" but, it is now heavily at work in the United Kingdom. Everyone is trying to make an easy buck off of the judicial system and for the most part they are doing a good job. People suing all the time and winning large sums of money in court with ridiculous cases have chipped away at the underlying goodness of lawsuits. Therefore, the potential for lawsuits to better the economy has always been there; but, the manipulation of it and overt claims of greed have corrupted its once noble intentions to decoy people into scrutinizing the legitimacy of every claim.
Firms are continually churning out goods into the consumer market. However, with the advent of the lawsuit, great pressure has been imposed on companies to be more careful in terms of efficiency and especially safety with regards to goods and services. If a customer feels he has been cheated of his money and/or is simply dissatisfied with what he has paid for, than he has the right to file a lawsuit against the party responsible. Undoubtedly, such a case cost a hefty sum of money and 90 percent of the time the defendant loses; thus, giving businesses incentive to improve the quality or design of what they offer the consumer market so as to avoid troublesome and expensive court cases.
Lawsuits keep businesses in line so as to prevent them from acting irresponsibly. From the leaking of a Mazda gas tank to an alcoholic doctor, the range of possible prosecution circumstance never ends. How does a firm deal with such deficiencies? The answer is to fix them. This is not simple and not cheap. It is very expensive to protect people from such a multitude of hidden dangers and product defects, which sometimes makes things not worth doing. For example, a medicinal firm attempts to put a new super aspirin on the market, but it must be tested for possible side effects; a bureaucracy mulls over the expense of carrying out such a process and decides whether it is really worth going through such an inconvenience given the expected return. The time and cost devoted to such an endeavor is off-putting and discourages business (especially fairly new companies, which have to be sparing with money.)
In order to dodge petty lawsuits, it is essential that one have an insurance plan, which means yet again firms are looking at another lump sum of money that could have been allocated somewhere else.
Damages are a fundamental principle in the American legal system. However, a number of recent cases in the United States have sparked a debate on the issue, the most famous one being the “hot coffee lawsuit”1. In 1994, Stella Liebeck bought coffee at a McDonald’s restaurant, spilt it, and was severely burnt. She sued the McDonald’s company, received $160,000 in compensatory damages, and $2.9 million in punitive damages. A judge then reduced the punitive damages to $480,000. The final out-of-court settlement was of approximately $500,000. For many, this case is frivolous (meaning that the plaintiff’s prospects of being successful were low or inexistent), but it really highlights the question of excessive punitive damages compared to the damage suffered and its causes.
Even though consumers have great protection rights in Australian Customer Law, they have to understand that this law is designed to provide consumers and sellers a fair go. Therefore, consumers also have to be aware that they will not be protected if they are careless and make unreasonable demands.
AgriComp provides computer systems for farmers and is attempting to decide on whether to change procedures for warranty claims disputes. Currently local dealers are handling disputes and the customers are complaining about the dispute process. AgriComp has decided to investigate the process to determine if the voice of some customers represents the concerns of all customers. This case study will identify the variables presented, the level of measurement, and why these levels are appropriate. The team will also analyze a data set of sample responses to determine the recommendation to be made to management.
In the articles written by Richard L. Abel and Peter W. Huber both have valid arguments with extremely different viewpoints on the litigation process. Peter W. Huber feels there is too much litigation in our country to where it cripples our society to become more successful. Huber feels there is less encouragement for citizens to take matters in their own hands and take responsibility for their actions. With a rather different perspective Richard L. Abel feels we have too little litigation rather than too much, he believes that manufacturers' products and services cause this and more litigation is actually needed. Abel feels that all injuries that happen to individuals should never go uncompensated. Whether you agree with Abel's theory or Huber's theory on the litigation process today, each makes perfect sense and also has statistics and scenarios to support their theory.
Later, another panel member argued that the purpose of health insurance is not to insure everyone. It should be provided to only cover catastrophic health conditions. Today, not only does health insurance cover catastrophic events, but also there are limits on the amount of out-of-pocket health care costs for essential health care (The White House, 2016). Also, most out-of-pocket costs have been eliminated for preventative care (The White House,
New York is in the grip of a litigation explosion that is clogging their courts and slowing their economy. According to the “Tort Reformer” over 84,000 new lawsuits are brought every year...that’s the equivalent of more than 300 suits being filed on every business day. When a deranged tort system destroys an industry – driving people out of jobs, panicking customers – and does so based on junk science admitted to the courtrooms by injudicious judges – there really is the possibility of making sure it doesn’t happen again.
In the case of Kolchek suing to recover for Litisha’s injuries, she can sure under the negligence liability. Every product should be fully tested in every way possible to see if the product functions correctly and will it injure individuals. There should not have been a whole that is not covered. Like stated in our book The Legal Environment of Business, “if a manufacture fails to exercise “due care” to make a product safe, a person who is injured by the product may sue the manufacture for negligence”. Kolchek could sue the manufacture. In this case which is Great Lakes spa. Porter was just a company that was selling the product. Great Lakes spa should have taken the initiative to examine their products throughly before putting it out on the make for individuals to buy. Like in our book The Legal Environment of Business stated, “A manufacture, seller, or lesser is liable for failure to exercise due care to any person who sustains an injury proximately caused by a negligently made (defective) product.”
The firm's value loss and damage to the firm's reputation are larger, however, when the firm is found guilty by the court. The formal indictment of the defendant firm leads to more negative abnormal returns, increased risk to operations, larger transaction costs, and a reduced interest from investors. Hutton, Peterson, and Smith (2014) thoroughly examine the consequences of litigation to firms. They find that the reduction in sales, return on assets, and institutional ownership are all statistically significant when firms
Rooted in the intentions of weeding out dangerous practitioners, the blooms of the litigations created a toxic environment for physicians. The causes behind medical malpractice are justified, but the application needs work. Lawsuits inadvertently raise physicians’ liability insurance premiums, which financially and emotionally stresses them, who in turn leave an area and its residents. The effects of the lawsuits are felt by both doctors and patients. This is not to say that many physicians do not flourish in the healthcare system — they do. Hopefully, the effects of medical malpractice lawsuits can transform the toxic environment into one that facilitates growth and prosperity for
The U.S court system has numerous cases in it, they range from multi million dollar cases (including the bank crisis, or the car business for example) to less severe cases called torts. A tort is a legal term defined as “ A wrongful act that does not include breach of contract. This offense damages the injured parties property or reputation, leaving that party able to gain compensation.” (Dictionary.com) The book The King of Torts is about a man named Clay Carter. He has a stable job, it doesn’t pay as much as he wishes. He in the scheme of one week goes from making $100,000 a year to making $5,000,000 in one case. This is all because he filed something called a mass tort (also known as a class tort).
It is all about holding the organization accountable for the solution. Organizations need to do more than replace it or do it again. Malpractice suits are the reasons for those kind of solutions.
Compensation involves monetary awards and can be difficult to decide the proper amount of compensation to make the plaintiff whole. In some instance the compensatory damages may seem too far exceed the actual loss of the plaintiff. In addition to over compensation to the plaintiff, another concern is how lawyers are paid for their services. The perception is that lawyers make to much money compared to the plaintiff. Many people, politicians, and companies believe that tort system is defective and requires reform to bring the system more in line with the original intent of tort
Consumers have expectations In terms of a good quality product that should be availed at a reasonable price. Consumers don’t only want the business to be socially responsible towards them in this manner of reasonable prices but way beyond this. They should meet the needs of consumers in ways of convenience and appearance. But business should also consider other aspects like environmental impact when packaging is disposed.
Consumers are concerned not only about a product breaking down but also about the time before service is restored, the timeliness with which service appointments are kept, the nature of dealings with service personnel, and the frequency with which service calls or repairs fail to correct outstanding problems. In those cases where problems are not immediately resolved and complaints are filed, a company’s complaint-handling procedures are also likely to affect customers’ ultimate evaluation of product and service quality.
Consumer care: The customer is the most important in all declarations of good business and it should therefore assist consumer protection movements.