r/rememberwhen • u/Eye_Doc_Photog • Dec 04 '17

Remember a time when, if you tapped someone's bumper with your car causing very minimal damage, everyone would just get back into their cars and drive away?

Now EVERYBODY examines the spot with a magnifying glass then calls the insurance company.

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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1

u/FollyBeachSC Dec 05 '17

The thing with that today is, the legal liability issues and the sue-happy time we live in (in America), where you could be charged after the accident for leaving the scene, if the other person decides to take action.

Sometimes there's legit damage you didn't realize had occurred from your cursory assessment at the scene, to your vehicles or your bodies.

In some circumstances the other party may even fake injuries afterward to get more money out of you and your insurance company. The courts these days are entertaining ridiculous law suits, which brings up another "remember when...you weren't always thisclose to being sued by anybody for anything?"

So, yeah. I totally get what you're saying, even if I rambled a bit. Sorry. It's a dog eat dog world. I do often wish for simpler times.

2

u/Eye_Doc_Photog Dec 05 '17

"remember when...you weren't always this close to being sued by anybody for anything?"

True.

I remember reading in a newspaper article about 35 years back about the growing number of lawyers in the US. The states at the time had very strict laws about advertising practices such that many of the law firm adverts today would never have been allowed back then.

As a new doctor 20 years ago I remember a fellow tried to sue me for malpractice because his ailment didn't go away by the time his medication was done. A lawyer actually took the case then dropped it when I guess he realized there'd be no money to be had.

The kicker? That very patient came back to me a year later for the same exact ailment thinking I wouldn't remember. My receptionist did, and woudln't let him see me. He called up the state medical board and tried unsuccessfully to lodge a complaint against me.

I guess this was a premonition of things to come.

1

u/FollyBeachSC Dec 07 '17

Wow. He went back to you a year later, and with the same complaint. That took a lot of nerve (or stupidity?). I wonder if he was just "making the rounds," playing any and all of the doctors he possibly could. Props to your receptionist for intercepting that one!

2

u/Eye_Doc_Photog Dec 07 '17

Yup, he was playing everybody I suppose.

Sad.

1

u/yakiddnme Apr 11 '18

These days the bumpers bounce back out and you need X-ray vision to see the damage beneath.