News Link: Kitsap Co sheriff: Settlement sends wrong message

[Eric]

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/87553702.html

Thoughts? I'll reserve comment at this point, while my BP settles back down.

[reiswigt]

It's wrong on so many levels! Welcome to our broken legal system and the world of bean counters. The risk pool personnel should be finding new jobs.

We must figure out how to stop the legal lottery. Torte reform is badly needed in this country, but is a subject of much concern and rightly so. I think that the lawyers who bring and loose frivolous lawsuits should be responsible for the legal expenses of the defendants. This should create a self regulating system.

[Devilphish]

Amazing, but not surprising. Government risk managers are so afraid of wasting taxpayer money and occasionally doing the right thing that they fold, even when they're holding a full house.

[zero7one]

I don't even know where to start with this one. We have come to the point in society that anyone who feels that if they have a reason (however wrong it may be) to sue, they figure that they will get their meal-ticket somehow. Kitsap County has now opened the door for future "out of court" settlements when the county did no wrong. I am happy to know that our legal department for our jurisdiction is willing to fight when a fight is due.

[5pins]

The problem with paying out because it is cheaper then going to court is that it invites more lawsuits. More then likely the people that brought this suit were counting on it settling out of court.

There was a case at my last job where an employee claimed that he had been fired unfairly. The judge dismissed the case because it lacked merit. The appeals judge agreed but said that the plaintiff still had the right to have his case heard. Rather then going to court the company settled.

The only way to stop this is to fight all lawsuits. The ambulance chasers will stop taking frivolous cases.

[stanley75]

It's kind of similar to the cases of American farmers trying to go to court to battle Monsanto. By the time they even get close to going they run out of money and end up settling out of court..