FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Linda Okun
PHONE: (626) 824-8927
February 15, 2005
A monthly look at the looniest lawsuits in
the land
(Los Angeles)- Los Angeles Citizens Against Lawsuit
Abuse announced its Loony Lawsuit for the month of February. This
month's frivolity comes from the Rocky Mountain State of Colorado,
where two teenage girls decided one summer's evening to skip a
dance to stay home and bake cookies for their neighbors.
The July 31st, 2004 deliveries consisted of half
a dozen chocolate-chip and sugar cookies accompanied by big hearts
cut out of red or pink construction paper with the message: "Have
a great night."
Apparently, not all of the neighbors were cookie
lovers. One of the recipients claimed that the girls scared her
into an anxiety attack forcing a visit to the local emergency
room the next morning.
The girls wrote letters of apology to the homeowner. One letter,
written a few days after the episode, read in part: "I didn't
realize this would cause trouble for you. ... I just wanted you
to know that someone cared about you and your family."
The families had offered to pay the medical bills if she would
agree to indemnify the families against future claims. However,
the homeowner wouldn't sign the agreement. Her solution was to
file a lawsuit not only for medical expenses, but for punitive
damages as well.
The woman ended up winning her medical costs,
the exact sum the parents of the girls offered to pay her without
the need for a lawsuit. The judge said that he didn't think the
girls acted maliciously but that it was pretty late at night for
them to be out. He didn't award any punitive damages.
“At the end of the day, the plaintiff received
exactly what she would have without a lawsuit, yet the Colorado
taxpayers got to pick up the bill,” stated Linda Okun. “It
is unfortunate that so many people in our society think the best
action is to clog our courts with meaningless lawsuits instead
of working with their neighbors for a mutual resolution. This
is more proof that no good deed goes unpunished, err, unlitigated.”
For more information on these issues, please contact Los Angeles
CALA at (626) 824-8927 or maryann@maryannmaloney.com
.
Linda Okun is the Executive Director of Citizens
against Lawsuit Abuse in Los Angeles, a nonprofit, grassroots
public education organization. Write to her c/o CALA at P.O. Box
262 - Glendora, CA 91740, or via email at maryann@maryannmaloney.com.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you would like a CALA
speaker to address your organization or some information for your
organization's newsletter, let us know today.
CALA is a nonprofit, grass roots, public education
organization dedicated to serving as a watchdog over the legal
system and those who would seek to abuse it for undeserved gain.
More than 9,000 citizens and taxpayers are Los Angeles CALA supporters.
