Some find it easy to blame complicated economic and societal problems on "greedy trial lawyers".  I admit, some product warning labels I have encountered seem pretty silly.  However, when I consider that many warning labels result from dead children and inconsolable parents, it doesn't seem as bad.  The fact is, many of the safety enhancements we rely upon to protect us from needless death or serious injury came about because of lawsuits filed by lawyers.  Without lawsuits, we may be left to rely upon manufacturers to do the right thing, or upon "the government" to uncover the problem and protect us.  I don't feel comfortable with either scenario.

Many of us remember the example of Ford Motor Company and their "exploding" Pintos.  Ford reportedly decided that there was an acceptable number of people who could burn to death in its vehicles.  Retrofitting a design
alteration would have prevented gasoline from saturating Ford's customers during rear-end collisions.    

Prior to a month ago, we were probably thinking such a thing could never happen in modern America.  Then we find that GM has over the last 9 years been hiding an ignition defect at the expense of its customers' lives.
 (Two weeks ago Toyota was ordered to pay the biggest fine ever levied for its "sudden acceleration" antics.)  What is not widely know or appreciated, however, is that a trial lawyer, one Lance Cooper of Georgia, is almost single-handedly responsible for uncovering GM's deception.  NHSTA, the governmental entity we rely upon to discover and protect us from such defects, never connected the dots.  It took a trial lawyer, presumably one trying to get money, to bring this atrocity to light.  Watch this video to learn more. 

I am not apologizing for all trial lawyers, and I have a GM in my parking stall.  However, when it comes to the role of trial lawyers in our society, I don't see things so nearly black and white.   Money is a great motivator, and if that helps save lives, so be it.