The High Cost of a Lawsuit-Driven Society

The one huge thing that I am quite sure anyone who knows me would say I am passionate about is the lack of acceptance of personal responsibility in our society, which has resulted in what is becoming an unaffordable life in society. It is all a trickle-down effect.

I do believe the fun litigious nature of our society, which has exploded to an extremity in modern day, is a huge factor in the high cost of living.  Insurance exists to indemnify one, meaning to put one back in the same financial position they were prior to a loss.  It is not a winning lottery ticket.  Not all situations are the cause of gross negligence on another.  Well, that bleeds over into the cost of personal insurance. It's a sad reality that the average American pays about a minimum of $1,000.00 a month between homeowners/renters (property) insurance, automobile insurance and health insurance.  The cost of a mortgage is an average of $3,500.00 per month.  With the median household income, the REALITY of which is $80,000.00 per year for a couple -- NOT what the media says of $150K per year-- people are unable to improve in life and build something for the future. The culprit of this?  Unwarranted litigation and even more so, frivolous lawsuits that get paid either to resolve a nuisance claim settlement or a nuclear verdict.

How has American society gotten to this point?  In short answer: Ambulance-chasing attorneys who see nothing but their own coffers being filled with the proceeds of a claimant’s settlement.   For a non-disputed claim, why does American society instantaneously think they need an attorney? That they need to file a lawsuit of any kind?  Why has society come to a point where it is the norm to distrust the insurance industry? To distrust the adjuster? To assume that an adjuster's job is never to pay a claim and to shortchange everyone in their given situation of a claim? Social media is why.

Ambulance-chasing attorneys screaming these falsities and constantly advertising on the radio and television in society is why. Those advertisements make people think that whatever situation happened means you are going to win the lottery by proving someone else\'s fault, whether they are or not.  Even more disappointing is that society is instantly romanced and brainwashed by it all. Especially when it involves a business, the attorneys’ ads that even say it point-blank, they will find a way to prove negligence and they have doctors for you to go to, who will show that you are injured, no matter what the actual circumstance involved.  Who are the attorneys behind this?

Unfortunately and sadly, a good number of them are our lawmakers who voters put into office.  The murder of an insurance CEO in New York last year got a social survey. SAD that more than 40 percent of those surveyed said they had no sympathy and found it borderline justifiable for an insurance person to be treated that way due to their mistreating society by not paying claims as they should be paid.  That was horrifying for me to hear as an adjuster. Even more horrifying as a Florida licensed adjuster, with a state that passed a law to appease the ambulance chasing attorneys, which gives the general public the ability to easily find an adjuster's home street address on the insurance website.

“Rapid change of laws. It can be done, but it will take a lot of support and some time to bend social thinking. No time like the present to start! Take lessons from other societies in the world, where it is outlawed for attorneys to advertise to sue others.”

The $11M nuclear verdict judgement in October/2025 issued to a woman who tripped and fell as she was walking by a curb in a Target parking lot is a detriment to us ALL.  It got lost that she was walking in wet conditions because it had just rained and that she was carrying her child and bags, when she slipped. She broke her ankle and fractured her lower leg bones.  The reality is that she has healed and is functioning fine in life again after her casts came off.  The first picture is close to the REAL area. The second one is what is out there being advertised by all ambulance-chasing attorneys as the area.

That alone is absurd beyond!  Again, she healed.  Payment of her medical bills and lost time of work and extra expenses from that, is AT BEST what may have been warranted and truly on goodwill. Someone losing their footing is not automatically someone else’s fault to warrant such a financial award.

Nuclear verdicts put many small businesses out of business daily.  People lose jobs. People lose their home, their future. The American dream gets shattered because of an exaggerated situation and an unwarranted judgment placed.  Not all of us can be Gwenyth Paltrow and publicly expose a lawsuit-happy person out to win the lottery by accusing another with deep pockets of exaggerated wanton & gross negligence.

What can be done to change this?

Rapid change of laws.  It can be done, but it will take a lot of support and some time to bend social thinking. No time like the present to start! Take lessons from other societies in the world, where it is outlawed for attorneys to advertise to sue others.  If you want to pursue someone, you can do it, but the solicitation of it is not needed and is why, outlawed.  Blatant fraud, exaggerated injuries and overstated negligence allegations need to be exposed. Limits on settlements need to be enacted.

The government has limits of settlement with sovereign immunity rules; it should apply overall within reason, of course. Insurance carriers should have their own advertisements out there letting people know they are there to handle their claim reasonably and pay them *or* on behalf of their policyholder, for actual damages caused, within the coverage available. The blatant statements should be said: You don’t need to share your money with an attorney, just work with your adjuster and you will be paid fairly. If you have a complaint of service and feel you are being mistreated, your department of insurance in your state WILL help and free of charge. You already pay them via your taxes!

Just ask a Florida adjuster who is also a regular person, a resident and a consumer.  She had her own unfair treatment by her insurance company on her homeowners’ hurricane damage claim. She contacted the DFS and they got it fixed. No attorney was needed, no lawsuit happened, making a policy pay legal fees that CAUSE higher insurance premiums to us all, no payout beyond the actual damages for attorney profit, just directional assistance from the state.  Attorney involvement just makes personal wealth increase for the ambulance-chasing attorney.

Our society needs to change and it can only start as soon as people make it happen.

This views expressed in the article are solely your own and do not represent those of Evolution Parking and Guest Services.