首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Americans are still chuckling about the "pants suit". A man—a judge, no less—sued his dry cleaners for $54m for allegedly losing
Americans are still chuckling about the "pants suit". A man—a judge, no less—sued his dry cleaners for $54m for allegedly losing
admin
2017-04-20
36
问题
Americans are still chuckling about the "pants suit". A man—a judge, no less—sued his dry cleaners for $54m for allegedly losing his trousers. A sign at the shop promised "Satisfaction Guaranteed". The plaintiff was not satisfied, so he cried fraud. He then used his highly trained legal brain to calculate the damages he was owed. He started with $1,500, a reasonable fine for consumer fraud. He multiplied it by 12, for the number of his complaints. Then by 1,200, for the number of days he was deprived of his trousers. And then by three, for the three owners of the dry-cleaning shop. After adding a bit more for mental anguish, the total came to $67m, but he kindly reduced it to $54m.
When the case was dismissed in 2007, many felt justice had prevailed. But the defendants had been put through purgatory and saddled with $100,000 in legal costs. They closed the shop and considered moving back to South Korea. The case illustrates " an important truth about human nature—that angry people can go nuts," observes Philip Howard, a campaigner for legal reform. What was most shocking about the pants suit was not the idiotic claim, he says, "but that the case was allowed to go on for more than two years." Some judges think even the nuttiest plaintiffs deserve their day in court. As the judge who let a woman sue McDonald’s for serving her the coffee with which she scalded herself put it: "Who am I to judge?"
The rule of law is a wonderful thing, as anyone who has visited countries ruled by the whims of the powerful can attest. But you can have too much of a wonderful thing. And America has far too much law, argues Mr. Howard in a new book, Life without Lawyers. For nearly every problem, lawmakers and bureaucrats imagine that more detailed rules are the answer. But people need to exercise their common sense, too. Alas, the proliferation of rules is making that harder.
At a school in Florida, for example, a five-year-old girl decided to throw everyone’s books and pencils on the floor. Sent to the head teacher’s office, she continued to wreak havoc. Her teachers dared not restrain her physically. Instead, they summoned the police, who led her away in handcuffs, howling. The teachers acted as they did for fear of being sued. A teacher at a different school was sued for $20m for putting a hand on a rowdy child’s back to guide him out of the classroom. The school ended up settling for $90,000. Understandably, many schools ban teachers from touching pupils under any circumstances. In New York City, where more than 60 bureaucratic steps are required to suspend a pupil for more than five days, teachers are so frightened of violating pupils’ rights that they cannot keep order.
The relentless piling of law upon law—the federal register has 70,000 ever-changing pages-does not make for a more just society. When even the most trivial daily interactions are subject to detailed rules, individual judgment is stifled. When rule-makers seek to eliminate small risks, perverse consequences proliferate. Bureaucrats rip up climbing frames for fear that children may fall off and break a leg. So children stay indoors and get fat.
The direct costs of lawsuits are only one of the drawbacks of an over-legalistic society. Too many rules squeeze the joy out of life. Doctors who inflict dozens of unnecessary tests on patients to fend off lawsuits take less pride in their work. And although the legal system is supposed to be neutral, the scales are tilted in favour of whoever is in the wrong. Because the process is so expensive and juries are so unpredictable, blameless people often settle baseless claims to make them go away. The law is supposed to protect individuals from the state, but it often allows selfish individuals to harness the state’s power to settle private scores.
Will any of this change under Barack Obama? At first glance, the odds are poor. The new President is a lawyer from a party dominated by lawyers. His vice-president publicly thanked God last year that lawyers are such a problem for corporate America. When Mr. Obama was in the Senate, he once voted for a mild curb on jurisdiction-shopping by class-action lawyers, but otherwise tended to vote against tort reform. And Democrats in the new Congress are itching to reward the lawyers who donated so generously to their election campaigns, for example by revoking the (admittedly short) statute of limitations on pay-discrimination claims, allowing lawyers to mine decades-old grievances.
In the last paragraph, "the odds are poor" mainly because________.
选项
A、the vice-President disagrees with the changes
B、Obama is inconsistent in his vote toward legal reform
C、Obama once supported the restriction on jurisdiction-shopping by class-action lawyers
D、lawyers have strong influence on Obama’s administration and the new congress
答案
D
解析
推断题。最后一段第三句提到,新总统是律师出身,来自一个律师占支配地位的政党,同时该段最后一句也说新国会中的民主党正在摩拳擦掌,要奖励那些在竞选中慷慨为他们捐钱的律师,由此可知,正是律师在本届政府和国会中的巨大影响力,使得改变这种现状的希望变得渺茫,故[D]正确。[A]只是其中的一个原因,包含在[D]中,故可以排除;同理,Obama在“jurisdiction—shopping”和“tort reform”中的不一致,只能说明Obama的态度问题,只是其中一个原因,可以排除[B];[C]说Obama对改变此现状有一定积极的作为,与“希望渺茫”的论点恰恰相反,故可以排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/G8zK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
ChineseAmericansIntroduction:AmericansusedtoassociateChineseAmericanswith【B1】______【B1】______I.EarlyimmigrationA.
Whatdoesthenewsitemmainlyreport?
Americansarestillchucklingaboutthe"pantssuit".Aman—ajudge,noless—suedhisdrycleanersfor$54mforallegedlylosin
Americansarestillchucklingaboutthe"pantssuit".Aman—ajudge,noless—suedhisdrycleanersfor$54mforallegedlylosin
Americansarestillchucklingaboutthe"pantssuit".Aman—ajudge,noless—suedhisdrycleanersfor$54mforallegedlylosin
GeorgeBernardShaw’s______isacommentaryonIbsen’sdramaticworksandalsoservedastheauthor’sownprogramofdramaticc
InBritain,______hastheultimateauthorityoflegislation.
PASSAGETHREEWhydidtheauthorearnthenicknameCaptainCalamity?
PASSAGETHREEAccordingtoFransdeWaal,whatdoes"one-on-onemorality"govern?
随机试题
沪深300股指期货合约的最低交易保证金是合约价值的()。
“辛凉轻剂”指的是
室壁瘤的超声表现特点包括
对临床治疗方案进行药物经济学评价的主要目的在于
关于显影的叙述,错误的是
属于氮苷类化合物的是属于硫苷类化合物的是
某水泥有限公司拟开发利用古圣砂岩矿资源,年产872179t砂岩。项目矿界范围面积0.44km2,分为北东矿块和南西矿块。高速公路所在地段位于矿区中部,高速公路两侧边界距露采边界距离各为50m。距厂区破碎站北侧约100m为古圣移民住宅区,总计约100户;距
下列关于信用评级定性和定性分析方法的说法,正确的有()。
有人问我怎样才能不浪费时间,我说忘掉时间才是真正的不浪费时间。如果做一件事情专注到忘掉时间,就意味着全心投入。只要这件事情本身是有意义的,就一定会有所成就。凡是我们每天赶时间的事情,大部分是没有意义浪费时间的事情。对以上文字理解正确的一项是:
设f(x)连续,且=2,则=_____________.
最新回复
(
0
)