Comments on: The Lawsuit Society

By: kataroma

kataroma — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 10:50:52 +0000

I agree that tort law in the US has gone too far (IMO this is because the US has jury trials for tort cases unlike just about every other country in the world) - however, there are no shortage of trivial court cases here in Italy - they’re just different. From what I’ve seen amoungst our Italian friends, almost every family has a nasty court case somewhere - usually over inheritance. We also have friends who are suing the condominio administrator of their building for building a faulty elevator, suing neighbours for water leaks etc. It just seems silly to spend years and thousands of euros of legal fees for such trivial problems - but apparently suing people here is the only way to get their attention.

I would like it if hospitals at least had more fear of the law. I can tell you some terrible stories about hospital negligence and dirt.

By: John Helm

John Helm — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:24:44 +0000

Slip and fall accidents, some time ago a “friend/attorney” told me they were typically good for a quick $5,000 to $10,000. As an architect it’s one of the reasons I’d rather be in Italy. Though Berlusconi is famous for suing anyone who dares to critisize him.

By: Eva

Eva — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:11:20 +0000

Great post. Well, this is how I see it:
After living in Italy for 13 years, I actually MISS being in a place where people fear the law. It may sound insane, but it seems to work better than the Italian way = total dismissal of law and regulations.
I mean the fact that I can get on a train here and someone will actually be SMOKING (I kid you not) in one of the cars, and after I hunt down the ticket collector and tell him, he shrugs and says “Che ci posso fare io?”. This really gets my goat. Now if he feared being fined or sued, maybe he would actually take his job & duties seriously?! No? Maybe it’s extreme to use fear tactics but I think Italy could use a good shaking up.

An observation on the same note: A friend of mine (born & raised in Italy, never left the continent) recently went to USA for the first time and though he was rather impressed by the smiles, courtesy, and customer service, he felt it was fake and forced. I thought about it and he’s probably right. BUT I’d rather have fake niceness and courtesy than “genuine” rudeness, inconsideration, and lack of customer service which I see each day in Italy.

James- I don’t know what part of Italy you live in BUT in the South the law is a joke. I have been in the process of trying to resolve a court case for the past 7 years and it’s ridiculous. I am 100% in the right yet because people have no respect for the law here, I am forced to dish out money and waste time while hoping justice will prevail in the Italian court system- which is very unlikely (my lawyer himself said so).

By: vangie

vangie — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:01:43 +0000

You’re reading it right. You can ‘t say “boo” around here (US) anymore without someone getting “offended” and threatening to have others beat you up, figurativley speaking. Particularly, it seems that the “takers” have found ways to work the system to keep the “givers” (read taxpayers and responsible citizens who foot the bill for themselves and everyone else) under control. Ugh, I’ll stop here.

It’s interesting to note that on my trip to FVG a few weeks ago, a 30-something Triestino said he thought that one thing good about the US is that we have a legal system with consequences - that people are apprehended and punished for their crimes, whereas in Italy, his observation was that people could get away with all sorts of things. The US legal system of 20 years ago was probably close to what he was thinking about, but these days, anything goes in court. The guilty often walk free due to some technicality of the law.

By: webmaster

webmaster — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:31:05 +0000

Uh oh. You mean I’m finally going to have to break down and read Ayn Rand? I have resisted her all these years…

By: James

James — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:22:10 +0000

I picked up “Atlas Shrugged” (by “Fountainhead” author Ayn Rand) recently to reread after seeing a number of articles about its 50yr anniversary, and am amazed how much it is starting to seem “more ‘realer’ than life”. In any case much more real than I would have hoped to immagine as I read it years ago with a neo-graduate’s enthusiasm for the future. Then I thought “This is so off the wall, it could never happen” (the same way I did reading 1984 in the 80’s). Now I just shake my head “How have we fallen so far so fast?”. And I don’t really think that Italy is really as far behind as you seem to express. It’s playing catchup in a lot of areas, but isn’t really so far behind.