Maloney wants to keep malarkey out of courts
Deepa Bharath
There’s a reason why manufacturers ask you to remove your baby
from the stroller before you fold it up and caution you not to iron
your clothes while you’re still wearing them.
Frivolous lawsuits -- an all-too-familiar trend for Maryann
Maloney.
The 43-year-old Corona del Mar resident heads the local chapter of
Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, a national organization that aims to
educate the public about the negative effect of frivolous lawsuits on
society.
Maloney has received the Legal Watch Dog Award from the American
Tort Reform Assn. for her work to educate homeowners about
alternatives to litigation over disputes concerning construction
defects.
“Lawsuits without merit hurt the economy,” Maloney said. “When a
company is sued to the point that their insurance rates shoot up and
they have to go out of business, jobs are lost.”
In the medical field, if such lawsuits cause malpractice insurance
rates to go up, quality of healthcare is likely to plummet as well,
she said.
“Frivolous lawsuits clog our courts, have a negative effect on
home prices and waste taxpayers’ money,” Maloney said.
The reason there are so many lawsuits is because it is so easy to
file one, she said.
“Anybody who wants to file a lawsuit can walk into the courthouse
and file one for less than $200,” she said. “They have nothing to
lose and everything to gain. People see other people getting these
big jury awards. It’s become a frenzy now.”
The American system is different from the British legal system, in
which the loser pays court costs, attorney fees and the award. If
such a tough system were to be enforced in the United States, people
wouldn’t be running to courthouses to claim their millions, Maloney
said.
However, not everybody agrees with Maloney and what her
organization stands for. Frivolous defenses are more common than
frivolous lawsuits, said Darren Aitken, a former Newport Beach
resident and a lawyer who has had his practice in Orange County for
the last 13 years.
“If people didn’t do anything wrong or if they accepted
responsibility when they did something wrong, there would be no
litigation,” he said.
Aitken said he is not against people settling issues between
themselves instead of going to court, but most individuals file a
lawsuit only when they don’t have a choice.
“If I have a problem with my car am I going to file a lawsuit
right away?” he said. “No. I would call the dealership and ask them
if they can fix the problem. That’s what most people would do.” Most
of the so-called frivolous lawsuits automatically get flushed out of
the system, Aitken said.
But in situations where people meet with hostility or lack of
response, the courthouse is the common man’s only hope, he said.
“It is the one branch of government that’s responsive to
individual citizens,” Aitken said.
Maloney and her organization, however, continue to emphasize the
need to look at alternatives to filing lawsuits, such as encouraging
homeowners to first contact their builder before calling a
construction defect attorney.
“Attorneys often flash big dollar signs at homeowners,” she said.
“But most of the time, much of the money is spent on lawyers’ fees,
expert witnesses and destructive testing of the homes. Often, only a
small portion of the money recovered remains to be spent on home
repairs.”
Mediation is key, Maloney said.
“That way, disputes are solved much more easily,” she said. “And
it’s a lot cheaper.”
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