First, there was George Bush, who has never missed a political opportunity to attack injured victims, lawsuits and lawyers, but who in 1999, sued Enterprise Rent-A-Car over a minor fender-bender involving one of his daughters in which no one was hurt. Then there’s ABC News Correspondent John Stossel, who while routinely launching outrageous attacks on the civil justice system, sued a pro wrestler who hit him after Stossel implied pro wrestling was fake. He settled, reportedly accepting $200,000 for his pain and suffering.
Yes, the list of these hypocrites in endless. Now there is Robert Bork,
the famed Reagan-era Supreme Court nominee rejected (borked) by the
Senate for his extreme right-wing ideology. Bork has routinely
condemned the civil justice system, but like all tort hypocrites, as
soon as they’ve been harmed, they head straight to court. Bork fell a
couple of years ago at the Yale Club while climbing up to the speaker's
panel, so he sued the Yale Club for a million bucks and the case just
recently settled for an undisclosed amount. The NY Times ran a great editorial
last year called Bork v. Bork which offers a probing analysis of Bork
the plaintiff and Bork the decrier of torts. I am not sure anyone can
get to the bottom of the quagmire that is Bork, but the Times made a
great effort.
What we do know about Bork is that Bork the tort critic had no problem becoming Bork the victim who sues, as is his right like everyone else. Kind of like a transformer, but perhaps not as cool as Optimus Prime.
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