Home / Series / Stossel / Aired Order / Season 4 / Episode 25

Trouble with Lawyers

From John Stossel's blog: America drowns in law. There are 175,000 pages of federal regulations that you must obey, or some lawyer can wreck your life. For every pound of good the regulations do, they do a ton of harm. 175,000 pages alone strangles life. George Washington University Law Professor John Banzhaf loves "public interest" lawsuits. His students sue bars that hold "ladies' nights." Chapman University business professor Tibor Machan says: "Is it right to manipulate people all the time? To treat them like they're little children... Who appointed you the czar?... The whole point of government is to protect our rights, not to order us around." ADA Exploitation: Most laws are well intended. But all laws get abused. "Disability rights" lawyers troll shopping malls seeking (or making up) violations from the Americans with Disability Act. David Peters tries to fight that through his group Lawyers Against Lawsuit Abuse. "Patent Trolls": I call them parasites. Patent troll Rob Berman will argue with me. Worker's Comp Abuse: Insurance companies hire people like Paul Colbert, Meridian Investigative Group CEO, to secretly videotape people who file phony claims. He usually finds deceit. Warning Labels: Companies pathetically try to protect themselves from lawsuits by smearing warning labels on everything. Bob Dorigo Jones runs the Wacky Warning Label contest. Our studio audience votes for the stupidest warning label out of these 5: The glass cleaner that warns "not for contact lenses... or direct use in eye." The rubber worm fishing bait that says "not for human consumption." The extension cord that says "wash hands after handling." The pedometer that says "not responsible for any illness or injury incurred while using the step counter." And the matches that say "combustion... results in carbon monoxide... known... to cause cancer, birth defects, reproductive harm."

English
  • Originally Aired July 11, 2013
  • Runtime 60 minutes
  • Content Rating United States of America TV-PG
  • Network Fox Business
  • Created September 1, 2014 by
    Administrator admin
  • Modified September 1, 2014 by
    Administrator admin