The Wacky World of Lawsuits

Two recent lawsuits have made me stop and think a little. The first one comes from New Jersey. It seems that a New Jersey woman has sued her orthopedic surgeon after awakening from surgery to find a temporary tattoo below her panty line.

Elizabeth Mateo, of Camden County, New Jersey, filed her lawsuit Tuesday saying she found “a temporary tattoo of a red rose” below her panty line the morning after her surgery for a herniated disc, her attorney, Gregg A. Shivers, said.

Her surgeon, Steven Kirshner, does not deny he placed a tattoo on Mateo. His lawyer, Robert Agre, told the local paper that the doctor has left washable marks on patients before to improve their spirits as they heal. “What’s offensive about this complaint is that it suggests something he did was intended to be prurient, and nothing could be further from the truth,” Agre told the paper. “It was intended just to make the patient feel better.”

Hmmm…I wonder about this. How about you? Seems a little strange to me. Why not place the mark, if one has to be done, on her arm, or hand even. Why not write, “I hope you feel better!” on her bandage. Seems a little strange. A rose? The location?

The second lawsuit comes from Omaha, Nebraska. A hearing-impaired woman has filed a federal lawsuit against a local McDonald’s, saying workers there refused to let her order food at the drive-thru window.

Karen Tumeh of Lincoln says they insisted she either order at the electronic speaker along the drive-thru lane or come inside to order. Tumeh wears a hearing aid but still cannot hear while using the drive-thru ordering box at fast-food restaurants, according to the lawsuit.

At least three times since September 2007, workers at a Lincoln McDonald’s refused to let her place her order at the drive-thru window, Tumeh said. In denying her service, McDonald’s violated the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, she said. Tumeh’s lawsuit seeks to force McDonald’s to make accommodations for hearing-impaired people to order food in restaurant drive-thrus.

Tumeh is physically capable of walking inside to order, but that’s not the point, her attorney, Shirley Ann Mora James, said Tuesday. “She has children who are autistic, and if they’re having difficulties, it would make it problematic for her,” Mora James said.
“It’s not appropriate for a hearing-impaired person to be forced to go inside because of their disability, when ... other drive-thru, fast-food restaurants have a policy to allow deaf and hard-of-hearing people to order at the drive-thru window.”

Other McDonald’s restaurants in Lincoln have accommodated Tumeh, Mora James said.
“We have attempted to resolve this on many occasions and have unfortunately been unable to resolve this,” Mora James said. “So we were forced into litigation.”

Again, so many questions. However, I’ll focus only on the last statement, made by her attorney: “So we were forced into litigation.” Who forced them? Why was there force involved at all? Other McDonald’s served her, other fast-food places served her.

You know, many times in my life, I’ve gotten bad service at a restaurant or drive-thru. Not once did I ever think about suing! Not once. I did complain to the manager. I’ve even complained to their corporate headquarters. But suing? Nope. I just take my business and money elsewhere!

What do you think about these two suits? Thoughts? Comments?