Sheen & Another Celebrity Lawsuit

I, like everyone, have been watching and reading the slow meltdown of Charlie Sheen. Never thought much about his show, but liked it when it happened to be on. No idea why they pay so much money to him, but it does look like he at least can draw a crowd.

The lawsuit he filed against CBS is interesting to me for a couple of reasons:

– It is just another example that people should have a right to bring claims. Right or wrong, it’s a great system that allows people to be heard and express their grievances in ways other than violence and force. He hopefully has saved enough of his money to bring this kind of fight, but in many cases the tort system we have does allow an individual to take on a big network like CBS.

– The judge will get a chance to look the suit over. The point most tort reformers miss is that while people can bring claims, they still need to have all the elements in order to get to the jury. I can guarantee you that CBS will have all the legal help they need to ensure all defenses are used.

– This case should be a good reminder to parties in a suit that it probably isn’t the best to tweet, facebook, or even talk a lot about your case. It will be especially interesting to see how many of the "winning", "tiger blood", and various other tweets will be used against Sheen as his case moves along.

– Finally, the money involved will create some entertainment. I would guess in the end the whole thing will settle and we may never know the final deal. But, until then it will provide a way for people to discuss value. I always find it interesting that a jury would look at a 100 million dollar contract and see no problem, but will hear about a woman injured for life and respond with pennies.

Every real life lawsuit is a great opportunity for people to understand what a great system we have. How jurors are real people. Most of all, that each of us are guaranteed a right under the constitution to have our issues heard in court.