Urban legend or fact?

Some interesting law suits:

• Heard the outrageous stories about huge jury awards to undeserving people? How about the woman who got $780,000 because she was injured after tripping over her unruly son in a furniture store. It's not true. Or, how about the man who had an accident because he spilled his McDonald's milkshake while driving and then tried suing McDonald's because they didn't warn him about eating while driving. That's a true case. Learn who is telling the truth at snopes.com: Stella Awards.

• Recent surveys show that more than two-thirds of people think "many people use the justice system almost like a lottery - they start lawsuits to see if they can win millions." But, the actual data collected by the National Center for State Courts and the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics show a decline in the number of personal injury suits and the size of jury awards. Get the facts at Torts - Supplemental Material

• Many people think tort reform is needed because they've heard about frivolous lawsuits and massive amounts awarded by juries. Actually, these cases are very rare. It is much more common to have difficulty in bringing a successful suit against a large company. Deep-pocketed corporations use their vast resources to ensure that it is very expensive and time-consuming to bring a lawsuit against them. Learn more about how tort reform advocates may mislead you at Failure Magazine-Stephanie Mencimer - Blocking the Courthouse Door

• Are tort reform advocates hypocrites? See what the media and bloggers are saying about the Judge Bork suit and other famous cases at Corp Reform - Not Tort Reform