Steve Lombardi, a Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer, recently made an insightful post on the now infamous $65,000,000 pants lawsuit. In his post: A $65,000,000.00 Pair of Pants?, Steve correctly notes that in situations such as this discretion and rationality are of the utmost importance.
In this instance I think all can agree that this lawsuit is both absurd and ridiculous. This conclusion and opinion however should not be imputed to our entire justice system as a whole because it is what statisticians would call an “outlier.” It is not indicative of the overall justice process and is so far removed from the norm that you can wholly discount it as a random occurrence. Ridiculous claims like this do not reach juries who then award jackpot settlements for no reason at all. They do not drive up insurance premiums or force businesses to close. They, aside from being very rare, inevitably get rectified and weeded out during the judicial process.
I am certain this judge knows the only real damages he is likely to receive is the replacement value of his pants as they are a piece of property and nothing more. Given all the publicity this $65,000,000 pants lawsuit has now attracted, I think even he now knows that filing a claim for such a ridiculous amount was a very bad idea and a poor choice of action. Do not be surprised if this lawsuit it not voluntarily dismissed by the judge that filed it in the near future.
A partner with Childers, Schlueter & Smith, LLC,, Brandon Smith has devoted his practice to pharmaceutical litigation, mass torts, products liability and serious personal injury. A frequent guest speaker at legal seminars all over the country—Brandon is focused on helping injured victims nationwide, however possible. Named a SuperLawyer again in 2019, he has also been called out as one of 10 Best Attorneys For Georgia by the American Institute Of Personal Injury Attorneys and a Top 100 Lawyer in Georgia by the National Trial Lawyers in 2019.
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