« John Bolton Rocks! | Main | Iran: Best Choice From A Bad Lot? »
January 17, 2006
Laws, Reasonableness And The Statistical Continuum
John Ray at Dissecting Leftism notes yet another example of the law of unintended consequences from--you guessed it--California:
They emigrated from Taiwan as boys, worked hard, kept close to family, and now - before either is 30 - they are stuck with a little lawsuit with big statewide implications. Bill and Sam Wu of Elk Grove have joined the burgeoning rolls of California business and property owners under siege by serial suers. In this case - and there are many - the Wus are the target of a prolific Carmichael attorney, who has filed more than 150 disability-access lawsuits since August 2003.
To some, Scott N. Johnson, who is quadriplegic and drives a full-size van with hand controls and a wheelchair lift, is a crusader for the disabled, busting businesses for violating the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. To others, he is an opportunist - the Wus say extortionist - who makes a fat living driving around town, scouring mom-and-pop operations for even the smallest infractions, then filing lawsuits and squeezing out quick settlements.
This goes back to my theory of Life As A Continuum Of Statistical Probabilities. How do we weigh the right of reasonable access of a handicapped person against the right of a business owner make his living free from unreasonable laws? The key concept is, of course, what is reasonable. There are no certainties in life: we have a reasonable expectation that we will survive a trip to the corner grocery, but there is some small but statistically important chance that we could be killed in an auto crash along the way. Some of us will get cancer and die before the age of forty. An African-American citizen is much less likely to encounter institutional discrimination today than fifty years ago, but the chance is not zero. How do we balance correcting an unjust situation for the greatest number of people against creating a new injustice for another group (potentially much larger than the first)? How far are we required to go on the statistical curve?
Do handicapped citizens of all levels of disability have a right to the same level of access as a non-disabled person to every public place of business? The aforementioned Mr. Johnson is a quadriplegic. What percentage of disabled people are quadriplegics and should that level of disability be used to set the standard of access to all businesses, large and small?
It seems to me that a common scenario has been played out yet again: a societal deficiency has been justifiably highlighted by activists; the public consciousness has been raised and laws are passed; activists, having accomplished 99% of their goal then proceed to spend all their time chasing the last one percent. And that one percent is in the statistical no-man's-land of unreachability.
And the rest of us pay the price.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.thebernoullieffect.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/502
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Laws, Reasonableness And The Statistical Continuum:
» Submitted for Your Approval from Watcher of Weasels
First off... any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here. Die spambots, die! And now... here are all the links submitted by members of the Watcher's Council for this week's vote. Council link... [Read More]
Tracked on January 25, 2006 01:40 AM
» The Council Has Spoken! from Watcher of Weasels
First off... any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here. Die spambots, die! And now... the winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Chaos or Community by Done With Mir... [Read More]
Tracked on January 27, 2006 01:28 PM
Comments
I didn't see a way to send you email, but to let you know I put this post up for the Watcher of Weasels non-council nominations for January 24.
Statistical continuum, huh? Buncha busybodies is more like it.
IMHO
Your post reminds me -- we have an appt with our lawyer tomorrow and I have to walk upstairs to his office. Must be 30 of those darn steps and I have a bum knee. Maybe I'll sue him?
Nah...
Posted by: dymphna at January 24, 2006 05:45 PM
Why, I take that very kindly!
Although there are some scumbags in the profession for sure, as a class I generally like and admire lawyers. I hope your need for one is benign (and I likewise hope your knee is better soon).
Sorry about the lack of email access, I'll fix that.
Posted by: Jeff at January 24, 2006 07:02 PM
Great reading, keep up the great posts.
Peace, JiggaDigga
Posted by: JiggaDigga at April 6, 2006 11:35 PM
