Monday, May 07, 2007

The attack on society by the second-handers continues

And here they come again--it's the sue-happy "gimme" crowd on the attack again, this time being led by Michelle Mesa of Staten Island, New York and her unnamed (for the moment) ratbag husband. The Mesas are expressing massive outrage over the report that their precious daughter Destiny (no doubt destined to be a loser when she grows up if she follows in her parents' footsteps) allegedly got "lost" for a few minutes while on a school field trip to the Museum of Natural History recently. Apparently Destiny wandered away from the other kids as they were being taken to the bathrooms and cafeteria, only to be found unharmed a short time later by museum staff. Nothing bad happened to her--she wasn't abducted, molested or even solicited by Hare Krishnas--she just spent a few extra minutes siting in the butterfly room before being taken back to her group. But the lack of any harm whatsoever hasn't stopped her parasitical parents from filing a lawsuit against the school and demanding money, of course.

Now it's a fact of life that sooner or later, every kid is going to wander off someplace and get "lost" for a little bit. Every kid that I know has been misplaced at the mall or in Wal-Mart at least a couple of times and I seem to recall that I as a small child had a knack for this as well. But almost every one of these kids winds up reunited with their parents in short order, as I always was, Yes, there's a slight possibility that something bad could happen, but that's true every time your kid goes anywhere. In this case, nothing did happened to Destiny, but the Mesas apparently believe that they now deserve a new car or a two-week cruise to Mexico to compensate them. And if that money has to come out of the funds budgeted for all the other schoolkids, so what?

The school says that the field trip was short on chaperones and that's how Destiny was able to slip away. The Mesas are all upset now but I can't help notice that neither of them was willing to volunteer their time to chaperone their daughter and her class. No, but they can sure find the time to meet with lawyers and give interviews, can't they?

Add the Mesas to my list of people who should be deported to Guatemala in trade for a pair of hard-working immigrants who want to work hard and support our system instead of just suing over stupid stuff like this. Someone needs to explain to the Mesas that our courts are here to remedy actual wrongs and make injured parties whole again, not serve as some sort of "loser lottery".

And this is exactly why I favor a "loser pays" system in court where anyone who files a frivolous lawsuit can be made to reimburse the people that they sue for all of their legal expenses if the case goes to trial and the plaintiff loses on the merits.

"You cannot just leave my baby in Manhattan and expect me not to be upset about it,"screamed Michelle Mesa.

Yeah, like Staten Island's so much safer. Please...

3 comments:

  1. They didn't "just leave her baby," did they? This chick is a drama queen hamming it up for the reporter.

    I agree with you, people like this and the lack of tort reform make society weaker.

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  2. Man, I sure wish somebody would have left me somewhere in Manhattan when I was a kid.

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  3. Hi,
    I'm not American. Dont live there, work there or have anything to do with it but people like these Messas make even my blood boil. I do agree with you that there should be a "loser pays' system. Every time someone files a case in court, it burdens the resources of the state. The state would be well within its right to enact a statute empowering a bench to evaluate and decide on the frivolity of cases and hand out fines or even small prison sentences. I'd love to see dear little daughter loving Michele doing time

    I found your site googling for an Alaskan polar bear named Binky which seemed to have a taste for Australian tourists (read about it in a Dave Barry article, just wanted to find out if its true). I enjoyed your article. You write well.

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