IS IT REALLY TRUE?
Has our precious legal system been high jacked?
Do we have a house of representatives or has it become a “lobby” and a house of lawyers? It is unbelievable that so much debate and complain is directed towards many industries and so little to the real culprit! Reform THE LEGAL SYSTEM, the root cause of many problems. Do not punish the victims; we the people!
To whom it may concern,
Is it really true? This, I chose to be title of my note to you, because I trust and hope it will tickle your interest!
I am a Swedish citizen and proud Green Card holder and I have had the pleasure to be part of this environment most of my working life here in the USA. I moved here on October of 1987 and feel very fortunate to be part of this great country. USA has not only been kind to me on a professional level but it has also created the emotional center for a wonderful family with my fantastic American wife and eight, well fused, beautiful and successful American children.
Like in all other countries, there are pluses and minuses and I have to conclude that all in all, do I find USA as being possibly the best country in the world but like all other countries there are some good traits and some bad ones!
On the negative side, have I really, after all these years, only found, one, major issue that is disturbing, thus, my note to you. If true, however, is it a rather big and scary negative! It is our LEGAL SYSTEM. Our legal system here in the USA seem unreasonably intrusive, dangerous, unfair and triggers enormous cost disadvantages against all other Industrialized Countries:
1/ Is it true? Every OECD country, but the USA, has as a basic rule of thumb in “the loser pays” (if I sue you (I am the aggressor) and I am wrong, I risk to pay your defense). In USA it has to be negotiated, the basic rule here is; “everybody for himself”. Consequently you only have to count your own legal costs as a risk factor.
2/ Is it true? Every OECD country but the USA, has a relationship between injury and punishment. Higher punishment for bigger neglect and injury is the norm in all OECD countries. In the USA the norm is; “how much punishment should it take so that the culprit does not do it again”? If I am lucky to loose my pinky finger in IBM’s door step because they hung up the door incorrectly can I sue for millions and maybe get a couple of hundred thousands, while if I loose it in my neighbors door step do I only get five hundred bucks if at all.
3/ Is it true? Every civilized country has some type of jury system but USA is the only one, which strictly guides itself to get a “jury of your peers” who then eventually will decide “guilt or, no guilt”. Many lawsuits are extremely complex and need the understanding of true experts. It can be, biological, psychological, medical or financial condition/situations that normal laymen impossibly can comprehend, yet, in the USA, experts are only called upon as witnesses, which have to be negotiated and too often do we see decisions about guilt or no guilt taken by a jury without the least comprehension about even the hard facts, basing their extremely important judgment on emotions alone. In a very complex judgment, experts must be part of such decision and are always, in every civilized country… but the USA, where it may or may not been part of the jury’s comprehension.
4/ Is it true? All OECD countries… but the USA prohibits any lawyer to take commissions. It just takes away the whole trust thing, does it not? “Ambulance chasers” are consequently an “only USA” profession and you see thousands of law offices where the “good oath” is replaced by; greed, business speculation and used car salesmen culture, with a law degree, or sometimes even without it. It seem second nature to many lawyers in the USA to behave in what every other civilized country would consider un-ethical for this kind of service.
5/ Is it true? That USA, therefore, has about 20 times more lawyers per capita than average OECD country and that USA also have about one lawyer per engineer, while all other OECD countries have 15-30 engineers for each lawyer.
6/ Is it true? That USA, also, has about 20 times more lawsuits per capita than average OECD country.
7/ Is it true? That USA healthcare and insurance system therefore is 2-7 times more expensive than average OECD country and that all other insurance cost also are much more exposed to the cost of legal risk. It is depressing to see the “so called” healthcare reform costing so much but not touching two of the most important reform areas; legal malpractice and across state line competition for insurance plans. What are they thinking?? Insurance cost after all, is only about statistics. Again, attack the root causes (legal) and not the victims; our people and livelihood (via exorbitant healthcare, insurance, etc, costs)
8/ Is it true? That over 80 per cent of all congressmen and women in the Democratic Party are lawyers and somewhat less in the Republican Party and that this is about 4-5 times as many lawyers as in the average OECD country parliament.
If any or some of these statements are true, do we (in the USA) have a difficult dilemma, especially if point #8 is correct! I suspect it must be an uphill battle to have “lawyers” take any decisions, whatsoever, against their own profession! It seems as putting enormous amounts of money into reforming a healthcare system could be partly avoided if we reformed the legal system instead… We, the people, seem to have been high jacked by politician lawyers, I am sure the founding fathers did not mean this to happen when they wrote about checks and balances between the three branches.
This above, I find as the single biggest issue in the USA. The legal system should be reformed if any of above is correct! Why do we not hear about that? Finally, must I also mention the very week gun laws (that are poorly enforced). This is totally mind numbing for any civilized country citizen! It is astonishing that a teenager can buy a semi automatic weapon (people killing machine) or a 1000-yard sniper weapon over the counter as easy as a chocolate bar but that same teenager cannot take a beer in the local pub… .
Maybe, however, if someone like you took all of this to heart, something good can happen!
I believe this country could easily prosper much more if we reformed the legal system and kept it focused, “for the people” rather than “for the lawyers and politicians”. Again, I love this country very much and all in all, it is the best country in the world! This does not mean it cannot get even better.
Warm Regards,
Hans B Amell
