Whose leg is this anyway?

As you have probably guessed by now, I really love the BBC web site. You can find all sorts of news from around the world, like the story of a North Carolina man who stored his amputated leg in a barbeque smoker, that was later auctioned off. He is now locked in a custody dispute with the man who bought it. I really recommend you give it a read if you have five minutes to spare. I find this simply ridiculous. I do not know which part is worse though. The "hide your amputated leg in a smoker and lose it at an auction because you have not paid for the storage fees" part OR the "I am gonna sue your sorry arse off because I want your leg back which I bought together with the smoker and I am gonna use it during Halloween to make money" part.

For some reason I am not really surprised at all to learn that such litigation takes place in the ol' US of A. Americans have the tendency to sue each other for no apparent reason. It's a sort of national passtime like baseball. Were you so stupid as to trip on the pavement because you were looking at some blonde's legs? No problem. Let's sue the county for a few million bucks. Or perhaps you decided to dry your favourite pet inside your microwave oven and then you realised that it has exploded like a suicide terrorist. No problem. Let's sue everybody; the company who made the oven, the country where the oven was made (probably China). Do not forget to sue Osama and all the Arab countries as well because it's their fault.

Can somebody explain to me this American love affair with stupid litigation? I understand suing big corporations which lie to get your money. I understand suing the government which lies about the war. But, suing because you were too stupid, incompetent and greedy and you actually win the case: beyond belief.

I am sure that there will be further stories published on our site for the litigation virus in the US. I just wanted to prepare you for things to come. Stay tuned.