ThreeyearsagoBobDoughertyhadsomebadluckataHomeDepotinLouisvilleColorado.Doughertysatdownonatoiletinthestore’sbathroom----andcouldn’tgetup.Someonehadleftglue(胶水)ontheseatandDoughertywasgluedtothet

题目详情

Three years ago Bob Dougherty had some bad luck at a Home Depot in Louisville Colorado. Dougherty sat down on a toilet in the store’s bathroom ----and couldn’t get up. Someone had left glue(胶水)on the seat and Dougherty was glued to the toilet. As he was rushed to the hospital the toilet seat came free---but not without leaving some skin behind. Ouch!

Sounds like Dougherty had a horrible day? Not necessarily. Dougherty is hoping to turn that really bad day into a really big payday. About two years after the incident he wrote to Home Depot demanding $3 million in damages. When the company offered him just $2000 he sued(起诉). Dougherty argued that the store was slow to help him and paper seat cover should have been available. Was he laughed at out of court? Hardly. The case is slowly moving forward. Meanwhile the person who actually put glue on the toilet was never caught.

Three million dollars over toilet-seat covers? That’s what passes for a legal case these days. People think the courtroom is the proper place to take any beef no matter how embarrassing or ridiculous. “This is a country where it’s hard to laugh at what people sue over because it tends to be overtaken by the reality ” says Walter Olson a Manhattan Institute fellow and the editor of Overlawyered. com. “And the message some of these lawsuits send is if something bad has happened to you it must be someone’s fault and you must obtain payment.”

It’s not just ridiculous---it affects all of us. Our society has become so sue-happy that the average district judge handles 400 new cases a year. It can take years for a case to wind its way through the courts. All of these stupid lawsuits hit our wallets too. With court costs rising insurance has increased greatly as everyone struggles to cover his behind. Meanwhile the personal-injury lawyers whose smiling faces are seen everywhere on ads encouraging us to join the lawsuit parade are laughing all the way to the bank.

These days even people behaving illegally want to blame someone when their own stupidity burns them. Take Juan Alejandro Soto who after a night of drink arrived with his friend at a closed New Your City subway platform. Rather than return to street level the man decided to walk to the next station along a nonpublic catwalk. Sure enough a train came along. But instead of standing as far from the tracks as possible Soto tried to outrun it and tragically was struck losing both his legs.

Soto didn’t reflect on his foolishness and give thanks he wasn’t killed however. He sued. Soto argued that the conductor should have been able to stop before hitting him. Unbelievably last March a jury(陪审团)awarded Soto $ 1.4 million despite a judge disagreeing that Soto’s injuries were “entirely his own fault”.

27. In Bob Dougherty’s opinion the cause of his incident was that_____.

A. he had really bad luck that day.

B. the store’s bathroom was not cleaned

C. a staff member of Home Depot put glue on the toilet

D. Home Depot failed to equip the toilet with seat covers

28. Which of the following words would Walter Olson most probably agree with?

A. “You can sue over whatever you want to in the USA

B. “There must be someone responsible for you bad luck”

C. “You can get almost anything you want through suing”.

D. “It’s improper to laugh at others for what they sue over”

29. According to the passage who might take the most advantages of lawsuits?

A. Judges. B. Lawyers. C. The insurance company. D. The jury