Clamp down on frivolous lawsuits

I found two of your editorial pieces Jan. 30 to be very interesting. Too bad you didn't have them on the same page.

James Kilpatrick's column, "Litigants discuss making room for Moses," describes beautifully the sad shape of our judiciary today. Two cases regarding the Ten Commandments are going to the Supreme Court because one lower court says "yes," while another says "no." This is why we have a Supreme Court to settle disputes between judges' findings and come up with a unified decision.

But how sad that a lawyer who practices law in one of these courts is forced to come into "direct unwelcome contact with the Ten Commandments display." He claimed that the "obnoxious experience so offended his sensibilities that he fled for relief to the ACLU" and "executed an affidavit attesting to the unbearable damage he must endure."

What? A lawyer offended by seeing a copy of the Ten Commandments must go to a court for damages?

Across the page was a column by state House Majority Leader Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons Island, titled "It's time Georgians got a litigation tax cut." He tells us the cost of our overly litigious society was $246 billion for 2003. He tells us that litigation costs $845 for each American in 2003.

So what's my point? Maybe it's time we start charging lawyers for this ridiculous waste of court time. If a lawyer can't look at the Ten Commandments without "unbearable damage," perhaps he should pay the bill for his asinine, frivolous lawsuit if he doesn't win.

Taxpayers are paying for far too many court cases that have no business being in court. It is time that accountability is returned in kind to those who want to make big dollars over nonessential court filings. ...

John W. Sisson Jr., Evans