Warning Labels

In a highly litigious culture, you never can be too careful when advising people about possible product dangers.

A New Hampshire teenager was making some moves on the basketball court, and decided to drive hard and go for a dunk. As he flew through the air, he caught two of his teeth on the basketball net.

Ouch.

The kid was no LeBron James, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make money from basketball. In fact, the young man sued the company that made the basketball net, claiming they should pay for his dental work.

They settled out of court for $50,000.

You might call this lawsuit frivolous, but it’s part of a disturbing trend. People are suing companies for everything these days, from defective toilet seats to hard-to-open pickle jars, and the cost of doing business is skyrocketing. Bob Dorigo-Jones, president of Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch, reports that the Girl Scouts of Metro Detroit now have to sell 36,000 boxes of cookies simply to pay for insurance coverage — just in case they’re sued.

Today, companies are responding to the threat of lawsuits by...