State of the Law.

My new vocation has me thinking more and more about what is going on in the legal environment of the country. Seemingly frivolous suits may turn out to be important (?), and suits where someone really feels that they have been wronged may wind up just stupid.

I feel a little stupid for not having predicted that someone would, in fact, file an answer to the suit against God. I am a little impressed that somebody managed to pull it off in such a mysterious way, but any amateur magician could have performed a similar miracle.

As far as the joke thing goes, well, that's life. Since many jokes these days boil down to humorous metaphors, I can't really see that this guy has a claim against Colbert. He might have invented the comparison, but I don't think he would be the only person on the planet to have done so without outside influence. I myself often make little cracks, only to see them play out on major media at later times. I don't think, "Hey, I said it first!" I instead think, "Hey, I'm as clever as the professionals!"

Incidentally, I want to explain the most famous frivolous law suit of the past decade: Hot coffee. Stella Liebeck spilled some McDonald's coffee on her lap, and sued the restaurant. Some of the more common things I've heard include:
"Well, what did she expect? Cold coffee?" Actually, McDonald's policy was to heat the coffee to a temperature unsafe for humans when served. I've spilled coffee on myself before, but I never got third-degree burns from it; if I had, I'd be pissed at the person who made it for me, too. Poor Stella was not so lucky as I have been.
"Well, she should have put it in a cup holder." Her car had no cup holders. Besides, finding in favor of the defendant on these grounds would have essentially told the American public, "coffee is too dangerous to touch". Imagine millions of people, suddenly deprived of their coffee, since it may be hot.
"Well, it's still stupid." No, you're stupid. Don't dismiss the facts just because you'd rather make jokes at the expense of somebody's grandmother who sustained very serious injuries.

I don't think I've given this much thought to a lawsuit, even when I was in law school.