I’m having a tough time believing my eyes when I read about a lawyer suing his dry cleaners for $67 million. It’s this kind of illogical greed that is making common sense, common courtesy, and common decency disappear from too many aspects of our society.

In short, Washington DC lawyer Roy Pearson gets appointed to a judgeship. <sarcasm> He wants to wear his fancy threads to his first day on the job, but he’s either had a few too many hits off the whiskey bottle or he’s been snarfing down too many McLawyer sandwiches in between taking statements. In short, he’s put on too much weight and his fancy $800 pair of pants don’t fit no more.

He takes them to his local dry cleaners to get them tailored, but they misplace the pants for a week. It’s then that the end of Mr. Pearson’s digestive tract suddenly grows larger than the rest of his body. After reading about this case from multiples sources and multiple perspectives, the guy is basically a schmuck whose enlarged ego has caused his head to become lodged in a place where it ought not be. </sarcasm>

The dry cleaners offered him thousands of dollars in compensation, but no go. Dearest Judge Pearson is representing himself in what has become a $67 million lawsuit. (I’ll stop the review here and let you read the gory details for yourself.)

Excessive lawsuits have far-reaching effects.

My point for bringing this up is that anytime a customer or a business owner becomes unreasonable in a lawsuit, it creates a ripple-effect that reverberates damage throughout all of society – not just for the defendant.

The obvious damage is financial. In some industries that I’ve looked into, 18 percent of their operating budget is used for liability insurance and litigation costs. You know who picks up the cost of all that, don’t you?  It sure isn’t the people who run the businesses.

If you’re thinking filing about a lawsuit, please review these ten steps first. But above all, think in terms of demonstrating excellence to the world. Fight for what’s right, but don’t go to excess. Doing so hurts all of us – not just the party you’re suing.

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Filed in Work, Business, Motivation, Management, Leadership, Customer Service, Workplace