pain and suffering compensation

I am often baffled when I hear about pain and suffering compensation. I wonder if this is something that the person filing a lawsuit might have thought of, or if this is something the lawyers like to throw on to get some extra money. Though I think there are times when this sort of things might be relevant, and a person may deserve some money for this type of thing, I think other times it is just greed. A friend from Australia tells me that American’s have the reputation of suing at the drop of the hat, and I can totally understand why this is. We do it all the time.

I can understand wanting a pain and suffering compensation settlement when something ridiculous has happened. If someone is completely and totally doing something with no regard for human life, this might be something that could teach them a lesson. However, if you are involved in a car accident, and it was deemed one person’s fault, it might be something you should skip. If they caused the accident, but they were not being reckless, perhaps pain and suffering compensation is taking things a little too far.

You do hear about pain and suffering compensation all the time, and most of it comes from your own television. A large percentage of my local commercials feature lawyers, and these lawyers are always ones that deal with the big ticket problems. They talk about accidents, medical malpractice, and slip and fall. The reason these are advertised so heavily, in my opinion, is because the lawyers know they can get quite a fee from winning a lawsuit that has a large pain and suffering compensation claim attached to it. They know where the money is and how to get it.

I guess my concern is that there are times when it appears it is just too easy to get money out of someone for pain and suffering, and some of these cases should have never seen the light of day. There is the infamous case where the woman sued McDonalds because her coffee was too hot and burned her. We all know it was an unnecessary lawsuit, and that this woman simply lacked common sense. She won a large pain and suffering compensation though, and this just led to more of the same. It’s a shame that people like to take advantage of their own stupidity to get someone else to give them a free ride. It could happen to anyone.