Commit a Crime, and Blame Someone Else

by Matt Kelley · 2008-12-19 05:33:00 UTC
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Two stories this week tell the tale of our litigious society - people convicted of committing crimes are suing third parties for some alleged role in making the perpetrator commit the crime.

In Texas, the 21-year-old daughter of a judge is suing the driver of a truck she hit while driving drunk last year. The crash killed the woman's boyfriend and she was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to four months in jail and eight years probation. Her lawsuit, which seeks $20,000 for her totalled Lexus and an unknown amoung for pain and suffering, alleges that the truck driver cut her off, causing the crash.

And in Chicago, a man is suing United Airlines for serving him too much burgundy on a flight from Japan, causing him to hit his wife six times in the face while they went through customs. Bars are held liable for all kinds of activity allegedly "caused" by the alcohol served on the premeses, so this claim is hardly new. The legal question here is whether the court has jurisdiction over a bar 40,000 feet above international waters.

The U.S. is a country of entrepreneurs. Maybe this could be a new industry in America - commit a crime and sue the person who made you do it.

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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