I couldn’t resist commenting on a recent story I read concerning a lawsuit filed by a Michigan woman against the distributors of the new feature film, ‘Drive’, starring Ryan Gosling. The woman also sued the producers of the film and the theater where the film was shown.
The woman’s legal claim is that advertising for the film was misleading. She claims she was given the impression that the movie would be an action film, along the lines of ‘Fast and Furious’, but it wasn’t. She is suing for unspecified damages of at least the purchase price of her movie ticket.
As an Orlando accident attorney, I have mixed feelings about stories like these. On the one hand, stories like this are somewhat comical. After all, what kind of person has the time or would be willing to go to the effort to file a lawsuit over something like this? What kind of adult person doesn’t realize the moviemakers make movie trailers in a certain way in order to pique interest in a film? Personally, I’ve always treated movies with more of a “buyer beware” attitude. Who hasn’t seen a bunch of movies who didn’t live up to the advertising?
However, the strongest feelings that I have about stories like these are negative. Even though this is not a personal injury case, I know that little-by-little, stories like this tend to undermine peoples’ confidence in the legal system and make people cynical about lawsuits.
We handle serious Florida personal injury and wrongful death cases. Most of our cases involve significant injuries from a car crash or some other kind of traumatic event. Sometimes the insurance companies or corporations on the other sides of our claims do not want to fairly compensate our clients.
When a negligent party refuses to deal in good faith or make a reasonable settlement offer, we are often left with a choice: either accept an unfair offer or file suit. We never enter the decision to file a lawsuit lightly. We know that a lawsuit is a very serious thing.
If – after careful deliberation – we believe a lawsuit is the last resort for our client, we do our best to outline our clients’ claims the best we can and to delineate our legal theories. Nobody hates wasteful, nothing, frivolous lawsuits more than somebody who respects an efficient, well functioning, and fair legal system.
Besides, I’ve heard that the reviews for ‘Drive’ have been very good. Apparently, it is a very good film. Perhaps the plaintiff in the Michigan case should have just relaxed and enjoyed the movie.
If you hate frivolous lawsuits like we do, drop Orlando personal injury lawyers Kim Cullen and Bob Hemphill a line and let us know.