LAWSUITS

Many don't understand they're responsible for their own actions The
death of Rebecca Allen of Fairlea was tragic, but the circumstances do
not warrant a lawsuit filed by her widowed husband, Brian Allen.

That was the ruling of Greenbrier County Circuit Judge James Rowe in a
suit Brian Allen filed against Purdue Pharma L.P. of Connecticut, as
well as several other companies.

The target of the suit was the drug OxyContin, which generally is
administered in time-release capsule form. Rebecca Allen broke open
the capsules, crushed them and injected them into her veins.

The judge ruled that Rebecca Allen died at age 41 because she and her
husband "willfully and purposely ignored and circumvented all safety
measures" the drug manufacturer specified.

In dismissing the case, Rowe has taken a step refreshingly rare in a
society that awards multimillion-dollar damages to people who don't
use common sense - such as someone spilling hot coffee on their lap
pulling out of a drive-thru window.

The bottom line is that people often don't appear to understand that
they are responsible for their own actions, that the consequences fall
on them, not on a third party's pocketbook.

Scripps Howard News Service notes that - perhaps on the theory that
it's never too early to plan a lawsuit - a Web site, Sue-It.com, has
been established to sue the makers of the Segway Human Transporter, a
supposedly "untippable" scooter which is not yet on the market. (It's
due to go on sale next year.)

The law firm sponsoring the page to line up future clients believes
that the "untippable" claim may have opened Segway up "to new
lawsuits, even in cases of incredible idiocy."

No doubt ... particularly in this age of incredible arrogance,
incredible selfishness and incredible greed.

It says something about our litigious society that even before a
product hits the market, even before the first allegation of harm,
lawyers are lining up to sue.

It does not help when the American public believes the consequences of
their own mistakes are the responsibility of someone else.

But tell that to the lawyers.

And let them tell it to Judge Rowe.