Earlier today I went to a local gym. While walking past a main hallway I saw two employees carrying a cooler full of water. Moments later I saw them wiping up water they had surely spilled. While it was nice to see their concern for their customers, I overheard one say to the other, “Now we won’t have to pay a $50,000 settlement.”
The comment made me think. As an Albuquerque personal injury law firm, we have handled hundreds of slip and fall cases. I have also heard countless lawyer jokes and slurs about the legal system. But in this situation, it became clear that the motivation to protect customers from personal injury stemmed not from concern for their safety, but rather concern for a lawsuit. Sadly, this seems to suggest that the legal system, specifically the New Mexico personal injury system, despite its shortcomings, truly does help protect people. And until the concern for safety takes second stage to lawsuit paranoia, the system does in fact make the world safer, or at least my gym.