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Profit Over Pain and Suffering: Tort Reform and the Myth of the Frivolous Lawsuit

April 29, 2025

Why Are Personal Injury Lawsuits Considered Frivolous?

Over the last several decades, it doesn’t seem that a year goes by without someone mentioning a “frivolous” lawsuit in which some person was injured and sued a massive corporation to get a big payday. In reading that sentence, you probably thought of the “McDonald’s Lady” who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonald’s for $2 million. Would it surprise you to know that she had third degree burns and required skin grafts? Would it also surprise you to learn that she only sued McDonald’s for $100,000 in compensatory damages and three times punitive damages?

What about the woman who sued Disney World for a wedgie she got on a waterslide? Would it surprise you to know that she suffered severe lacerations and internal organ damage?

Personal injury lawsuits that gain traction in the media can get skewed very quickly. Somehow, a victim who was severely injured in a way that would affect their entire lives becomes an aggressor who is looking for a big payday, and large corporations whose negligence was directly responsible for those injuries become the victims. But if these lawsuits are considered frivolous in the court of public opinion, why do the victims get awarded recovery for the damages? Let’s first break it down by considering what a frivolous lawsuit actually is.

In The Article

What is a Frivolous Lawsuit?

The true definition of a frivolous lawsuit is a lawsuit that lacks merit, or legitimate basis. It cannot be justified in the court of law. Frivolous lawsuits can sometimes come with the intent to harass or embarrass a defendant. In most cases, lawyers will not take on frivolous lawsuits, as they are nearly impossible to win and they don’t bare any genuine grievance.

If frivolous lawsuits so rarely get representation, how are so many lawsuits labeled frivolous?

The Fight for Tort Reform

There is no denying that frivolous lawsuits exist, and they can be damaging to defendants who weren’t involved in negligent acts that harmed people. However, the small fraction of personal injury suits that are frivolous have been used to downplay and even damage personal injury lawsuits that hold insurance companies and large corporations responsible for negligent actions.

As a matter of fact, groups of high-ranking government officials have been attacking personal injury cases as “frivolous” for decades, and they use this argument to help them change personal injury laws across several states. These Tort Reform laws can limit the amount of compensatory damages victims can seek, and significantly reduce the amount of punitive damages. Some tort reform laws even make it more difficult for victims to take defendants to trial over their injuries.

In many states, tort reform has focused on medical malpractice, creating laws that make it nearly impossible to sue medical care providers for damages that can cause life-long suffering of the victims. In some states, laws that date back as far as 1975 have capped medical malpractice recovery as low as $250,000 without raising or adjusting for inflation in over 50 years.

How Does Tort Reform Cause Misperceptions About Personal Injury?

Creating a common enemy in “greedy” people looking to sue large corporations for a quick payday helps those who lobby for tort reform make their points. Therefore, they push for media exposure to create headlines that poke fun at victims, like the “Waterslide Wedgie lawsuit,” or twist stories to make the victims look silly or dumb, like the “McDonald’s Coffee Lady.” Using people’s own perceptions of the injury against the victims (who hasn’t burned their mouth on coffee or suffered an uncomfortable wedgie?), large corporations and people who benefit from tort reform laws persuade people to think that victimhood is greed.

Additionally, according to Justia, “Those who advocated for tort reform sought to persuade the public that the civil justice system was corrupt and that its operations had adverse effects on the economy. They created advertisements and lobbying campaigns that supported the notion that the judicial process is biased towards plaintiffs, resulting in high liability insurance premiums. Conservative politicians took on this cause, incorporating a change of the civil judicial system into their platforms.”

Not only does this form an easy way to convince people that any lawsuit can be considered frivolous, it also stops people from realizing that personal injury lawsuits have changed how corporations approach consumer protection.

How Personal Injury Law Has Protected Consumers

We live in a capitalist economy, and that has helped America thrive as a nation. While capitalism seems to go the route of “the customer is always right,” there are a lot of elements involved in how large corporations approach consumer safety needs. Furthermore, personal injury cases help shape corporate policies and federal and state laws on liability and negligence to ensure that corporations who don’t care enough to focus on consumer wellbeing actually make changes to protect consumers.

For example, the lawsuits against Ford and Firestone Tires led to stricture safety standards for vehicles after the Ford Explorer’s high center of gravity combined with a defect in Firestone Tires led to 271 deaths in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The 1 October shooting in Las Vegas led to 58 deaths and nearly 1,000 injuries when a shooter broke a window at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino (owned by MGM Resorts International) and opened fire on an open-air festival below (promoted by MGM Resorts International). More than 4,400 claimants filed a class action lawsuit against MGM Resorts International, and the final settlement was $800 million. Not only did MGM Resorts International make changes to boost security after the event, the settlement set a legal precedent for mass shooting victims holding private property owners accountable for failed security measures.

With the fluidity of societal needs, changes in personal injury law are always necessary. There will always be a new scenario that the law isn’t prepared for, and personal injury claims help protect consumers, create laws, change corporate policies, and establish accountability to protect future consumers.

The Dangers of Labeling Lawsuits as Frivolous

Proponents of tort reform that label all personal injury lawsuits as “frivolous” and persuade people to complain about people being awarded damages after they’re injured are compromising the safety of consumers and victims.

Not only are they looking to save big corporations and greedy insurance companies money that they should be liable to pay, they’re also scaring and shaming victims away from making their own claims. Not only does this cause more damage for victims, it also keeps other victims (perhaps in different situations) from filing their own claims, which can lead to more injuries down the road.

Leaving large corporations and greedy insurance companies to “do the right thing” isn’t as simple as it sounds. Profit over pain and suffering seems to be the way some of these companies think, as they fight victims for pennies, and it leads to dangerous outcomes that affect even more people, creating more victims.

Would Your Personal Injury Claim Be Considered Frivolous?

Just because you’ve heard of personal injury lawsuits being frivolous doesn’t mean you are stuck with your injuries. Don’t let the smear campaigns that diminish large-scale personal injury lawsuits stop you from seeking legal advice about your own injury. Whether you were injured in a car wreck or in a slip and fall, the negligent party should be held liable. If you’re concerned that your personal injury case may not hold water, contact the experienced Kentucky and Tennessee personal injury lawyers at Hughes & Coleman for a free case evaluation. We will discuss the circumstances surrounding your injury and educate you on your rights.

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