The cost of frivolity

A couple of days ago I read a story with the fascinating headling “State Sen. Ernie Chambers Sues God.” The Nebraska State Senator actually filed a lawsuit naming God as the defendant and alleges that God has caused all manner of natural disasters. The suits seeks to enjoin God from doing so again.

This is yet another case of someone feeling completely secure in mocking the religious beliefs of millions of Americans – so long as those beliefs are Christian in nature. (I’d be curious to see if the good Senator would be willing to file that lawsuit naming Allah and alleging that said defendant has incited followers to terrorist attacks and murders of innocent civilians. My guess is the Senator doesn’t want to risk that.) The Senator’s flippant justifications of how he can consider filing a lawsuit against God display the rankest sort of disrespect. Oh, but he’s quick to say that’s not his point.

So what is the point? He’s opposing any kind of laws designed to stop people from filing frivolous lawsuits because, you know, everyone should be completely permitted to sue anybody, anywhere, for any reason at all.

You know, in case you need to sue someone for $54 million over a lost pair of pants.

I’m curious to know how Senator Chambers justifies the harassment of working-class folks by people with more time and money than sense; who decide that lawsuits are great weapons to ruin another person’s life. The “defendants” in the aforementioned case of the $54 million pants (you did know that was an actual case, right?) were judged to have done nothing wrong in the end. They were judged to have been in the right and the person filing the suit in the wrong. They won. The costs of that litigation have now run them out of business.

Well, not completely. But it’s caused them to close 2 of their 3 stores and the third ain’t out of the woods, yet.

This is the cost of frivolous suits in terms of real people and real lives. My previous point about that lawsuit over the pants still stands, however. While the courts were busy with that nonsense, there are real cases with real consequences that are sitting in line rather than being heard. There are people who have suffered true injustice that are waiting for our legal system to make things right and they’re having to sit there while idiots clog up the works with lawsuits over missing pants and blaming God.

Sen. Chambers should be ashamed of himself but that’s clearly beyond his abilities. His lawsuit, frankly, is a perfect example of why the kinds of laws he’s opposing should get a serious look. I certainly hope the courts in Nebraska send him the bill for their time wasted.