Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse of Central Texas

www.BobDorigoJones.com
December 18, 2009

During the holiday season, I think we all listen a little more closely to the appeals from charities that fill the airwaves.  That why I’ve been using my last few weekly radio commentaries to reveal how lawsuit abuse has had a negative impact on so many humanitarian groups — even when they’ve done nothing wrong.

One such group is a Florida nonprofit organization called “Love Thy Neighbor” that has provided meals to the homeless for years.   One day, right out of the blue, the founder of the group was served with a lawsuit.  The reason: a jewelry business in another state named Love Your Neighbor claimed its potential customers might be confused if the charity continued to operate with the similar sounding name.

You heard that right…Love Your Neighbor was suing Love Thy Neighbor.

The charity was forced to defend itself during months of litigation.  Fortunately, the charity eventually won, yet it was anything but a “heavenly” ending.  The founder of the charity told me he could have provided more than 40,000 meals to the homeless with the money he spent on lawyers.

This is ridiculous! It’s hard enough for charities to raise money to help the disadvantaged.  The last thing we, as a society, should be doing is piling lawsuit abuse costs on them, too.  Redistribution at its worst!  This is Robin Hood in reverse – taking from the “have-nots” and handing over to the “haves.”

I discovered this lawsuit when reading through a little-known weekly legal publication.  It’s the kind of newspaper that only lawyers read, and I’m willing to bet I’m the only non-lawyer around who reads it.  However, the reason I force myself to read through the seemingly endless pages of lawsuits is because there are many tragic stories that will never make it to the mainstream media if we don’t help bring them to their attention.

We eventually made a front-page story out of this tragic case, and I was hopeful that the attention would help the charity retain some no-cost, or low-cost, legal help.  A kind-hearted lawyer finally did come to the aid of the soup kitchen, but as I mentioned above, even with the reduced rates he and his firm charged, the legal bills still added up to quite a burden.

Unfortunately, there are a lot more stories like this, and I will share them in the days and weeks ahead.