Lawsuits are drowning America.

• Author: Howard, Philip K.
• Position: Law & Justice

IN 2001, New York City was hit with a $14,000,000 judgment because a subway train didn't stop in time to avoid hitting someone who was lying on the tracks, apparently trying to commit suicide. That is just the kind of shocking verdict that people dedicated to reforming the U.S. legal system have been talking about for years. Irrational verdicts are merely the beginning of the problem, though.

The fear of possible lawsuits has actually changed the culture of America. Talk to teachers. Keeping discipline is hard when students can threaten that any decision might violate their presumed rights. Forget about putting an arm around an upset second-grader--someone might claim it was an unwanted sexual advance. Visit a playground and look for a seesaw. They are rapidly disappearing, going the way of merry-go-rounds, diving boards, and other joys of childhood.

No court ever held that seesaws are too dangerous, but who will protect the school board if one youngster gets off too soon and the other child breaks an ankle? Even the innocent game of tag has been banned in some New Jersey schools because a pupil might end up getting hurt and a parent might bring a lawsuit. Ministers in some churches are told not to counsel troubled parishioners, because--who knows?--someone might sue if the couple gets divorced.

It wasn't that long ago that Americans didn't think twice about the "risk" of seesaws, or of putting their arm around a crying child. Today, however, they know that any angry person can unilaterally put you through the horror of years of litigation. Even if a jury gets to a sensible verdict--and juries usually do--merely the possibility of being dragged through litigation is enough to prevent Americans from doing what's right.

Almost everyone is aware of someone who has suffered under the threat of litigation. Recently, a doorman I know nervously showed me a complaint in which he was being sued for $1,000,000 for a minor car accident a year ago in which no one went to the hospital. He is having trouble sleeping. Is this justice, or extortion?

The unreliability of justice is causing a meltdown in our common institutions. Health care has suffered a kind of nervous breakdown. The last trauma center in Las Vegas closed in July, 2002, and the next day a trauma victim died. The trauma center later reopened on a temporary basis with legislative protection, but others have not. The maternity ward at Methodist Hospital in south Philadelphia closed and has...