This is your reminder that much like baseball, apple pie and throwing tea in the Boston harbor, another American pastime is suing people who have wronged you. To do that, you need to know your rights.
You also need a basic knowledge of how the court system works. In U.S. courts, the loser pays for all attorney fees and court fees of both/all parties. How else would you be able to know that a rental lease agreement section — requiring you, the tenant, to pay court fees if you end up in landlord-tenant court proceedings regardless who wins — was illegal? You don’t have to sign that, by the way.
Does suing solve everything? No. With the exception of whatever factoids the court approves to remove from the public record in limine, the private becomes public record.
Thank you Merriam-Webster: in limine. Adjective: of, relating to, or being a motion, petition, or order regarding the admissibility of evidence whose exclusion is sought especially on the ground that it is prejudicial
Anyway, like the person who tried to get GEICO to cover her lawsuit over damages against the person who gave her an STD in an insured car, you end up feeling like you might as well have paraded around town in your underwear (your STD car insurance claim becomes front page news and a joke rattling all the way up to the Missouri Supreme Court). But that Missouri woman is wiping her tears with $5.2 million that is not being paid by GEICO.
As you know, I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. But some good advice is to know the Bill of Rights and the Constitution’s subsequent amendments. I’m not going to spoon feed you your rights, at least not tonight, but the More Perfect podcast by WNYC Studios has already done amazing work breaking this down already. Click that link and let me know what you think.
We’re so back.
I really thought I was done with haunting your inbox. It turns out that I love writing long, one-way emails so much that I just can’t quit. I would say you’re stuck with me, but you did subscribe.
The court jester in your inbox accepts tips in the form of Venmo (Chloe-Murdock) and PayPal (if you know my full government name). I also accept contracts in these three areas: Developmental editing for authors, as well as digital strategy consulting and podcast producing for newsrooms and businesses. I also write. My digital portfolio is in development, but here’s my LinkedIn.
Big thanks to Monica Obradoviç for my professional headshot. With the exception of my wedding day, I have never looked better.