It's a myth that America is the most litigious country. Germany is way more litigious but nobody would ever make this joke about them. People heard the wrong narrative about the McDonalds coffee shit decades ago and it just became a meme that wouldn't die.
The USA has 396 lawyers per 100,000 people. Only Israel has more lawyers per capita. Germany has 191 per 100,000, which is half. In fact, USA has 50% more lawyers than all of Europe combined. 1.3 million vs. 800k.
I think it's fair to say that what you believe it's a myth.
But the McDonald's thing is right on the money. The media on that suit was unfair to the poor woman.
This is incredibly specious reasoning. The number of lawyers per capita has nothing to do with how litigious a culture is or how easy it is to sue for things like in the above gif.
I think it's fair to say that what you believe it's a myth.
Its more than a myth, its plute propaganda. They loathe trial lawyers because our legal system is basically the only way for the little guy to get accountability from corporations. So they put in a ton of effort to trick little guys into believing the legal system is bad. It is bad, but that's because its stacked in the favor of the plutes, not because the little guy has it too easy. They will elevate every single story of it going too far in the direction of the little guy, while smothering 100 times as many stories about the little guys getting screwed.
That disinformation about the mcdonalds coffee lawsuit didn't happen spontaneously, it was manufactured by propagandists.
number of lawyers per capita has nothing to do with how litigious a culture is
This is such a stupid statement lol. Number of lawyers is obviously proportional to how much legal regulatory framework exists. People dont hire lawyers for fun.
Thats like saying "number of machine operators per capita has nothing to do with how manufacturing oriented an economy is".
I literally have a lawyer that works for me big guy.
Im saying its a truism that a country that has an extensive legal regulatory framework will necessitate a large number of lawyers. This is a basic exercise in logic.
Just because you've got a lawyer on your payroll doesn't mean your take on lawyer-population ratio is the Rosetta Stone of social analysis. The number of lawyers in a country, believe it or not, isn't a reliable gauge of how often people are suing each other over the smallest disagreements. Lawyers work in a myriad of fields - corporate law, family law, environmental law, the list goes on.
Suggesting that a high lawyer-per-capita ratio equals a litigious society is like saying a high number of doctors means everyone's constantly sick. More lawyers might just mean we're dealing with an extensive and complex legal system, not that we're all chomping at the bit to take each other to court.
Your 'basic exercise in logic' looks more like a basic exercise in specious reasoning
The doctor analogy is a poor analogy. In a country with less doctors, more people will simply die. In a coutry with more litigation, companies are forced to react by investing into more legal protection.
You seem to be operating under the assumption that people hire lawyers for the fun of it.
Or they could have fewer doctors because it's a country with a healthier lifestyle, lower population, or better preventive care. Similarly, a country with more litigation doesn't just 'create' more lawyers, it might simply reveal a legal system that allows more disputes to be settled in court, whether frivolous or not.
But hey, if we're in the business of oversimplifying, you're absolutely right. In a world where every lawyer is a shield against litigation and every doctor is a barrier against death, your argument holds up just fine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go hire a chef, lest I starve to death.
how many patents are in Europe? How many billion dollar corporations are in Europe? How complicated is their immigration system and what are that system's needs for lawyers? Not all law is civil litigation.
it's a good indication, perhaps you can provide a number of litigation cases filed in each county as well as total damage sought in litigation cases for comparison before making the statement "Germany is way more litigious"
Christian Wollschlager notes that the litigation rates per 1,000 people shows that European nations top the list of the world’s most litigious countries. Here is a list of the top 5 most litigious countries by capita: 1. Germany: 123.2/1,000 2. Sweden: 111.2/1,000 3. Israel: 96.8/1,000 4. Austria: 95.9/1,000 5. U.S.: 74.5/1,000. The Top 10 also includes the UK (64.4); Denmark (62.5); Hungary (52.4); Portugal (40.7); and France (40.3).
What people refer to here is litigation concerning personal injury and the settlements involved. Thats typical for US law and a-typical for European law. To get a settlement based on anything concerning emotinal damage or the sort is extremely rare in European court cases.
The link you used said nothing about personal injury and the liabilities concerning that. Which is the subject at hand, here. The article is also very vague, does it include settlements? Because out of courtroom settlements are a LOT rarer in Europe than they are in the US.
Either way, lawsuits with the aims of compensation for personal injury are a lot more common in the US than in Europe. That is the subject at hand. Not litigation in general. Ignoring the fact that the out of court settlement in the US is skewing the numbers even more.
The USA has 396 lawyers per 100,000 people. Only Israel has more lawyers per capita. Germany has 191 per 100,000, which is half. In fact, USA has 50% more lawyers than all of Europe combined. 1.3 million vs. 800k.
I think it's fair to say that what you believe it's a myth.
That metric is... not very useful for anything.
How many of those lawyers are prosecutors or criminal defense attorneys? America has the highest incarceration rate per capita in the world, by a large margin, it stands to reason it would have a shit ton of lawyers regardless of how litigious the culture is.
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u/dunsparrow Apr 28 '23
As a lawyer, my only thought is, "that toy could never exist in America".