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But the fact remains that, mostly in the US, people can and often will sue each other over everything. And often demanding staggering amounts of money as compensation.
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The misconceptions about lawyers and torts are so ridiculous these days.
Controlling for population, the number of torts in 16 states tracked by the National Center for State Courts, tort fillings have declined by eight percent from 1975 to 2000.
source
(Also Data for the early years of that period may not be complete, but that would only sharpen the finding of a decline. See Brian J. Ostrom, Neal B. Kauder, and Robert C. LaFountain, eds., Examining the Work of State Courts, 2001: A National Perspective from the Court Statistics Project (Williamsburg, Va.: National Center for State Courts, 2001), with accompanying spreadsheets available at
www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/csp/2001_Files/2001_ Tort-Contract_Tables.xls.)
Furthermore, many people think that torts fill up the court system and clog justice, tying up companies and the ever-so un-liable doctors from doing real work. Not true. In FY 2000 41,696 tort cases that were terminated, only 3% were decided in trials. (from the CBO source listed above).
Furthermore, the NCSC says that, "[t]he vast majority of all [state] tort cases are disposed through some form of settlement, with only 3 percent of all tort matters resulting in a jury trial." (Kauder, Examining the Work of State Courts, p. 2.)
Also, the magnitude of monetary awards is furthermore blown out of proportion. From the CBO report:
Also, I see that another poster has corrected the "McDonald's fallacy".
So please, before you start bashing lawyers, torts, the courts, and America, do your homework.