Joebob, i spent a week on the jury of a civil case in which our local ambulance chaser was resprenting a person who was suing because the plaintiff and the defendant got into a shouting match over a parking space in front of a building. The defendant nudged the plaintiff with her SUV, causing the guy to fall onto his ass. The plaintiff went first to an ER, was given some basic pain meds and told he was fine (this was after x-rays btw), whom then went to another private practice, and was told the same thing by the doctor of the private practice. Now, all in all, this guy incurred maybe 3 days of lost work and less than $1k in doctors bills, and you know what they were trying to sue for? Over $1.2 million.
After the case was over i talked to the defending attorney, who told me he deals with similarly absurd cases from this guy and a couple others on a monthly basis.
That all being said, please don't tell me that we've been "spoonfed" nonsense statistics, because i've been there, i know for a fact these things happen. Just because it doesn't make the national news doesn't mean its not happening on a regular basis in local courts.
Frivilous litigation is literally one of the top problems in the US, in my opinon. Medical coverage would be stupidly, i mean absurdly, ridiculously, fantastically cheaper than it is now in the US if it weren't for BS malpractice suits against hospitals and doctors. We have the greatest legal system in the world, easily, but that doesn't mean it is perfect.