-By Warner Todd Huston
Supermarket owner Rafael Cuellar from Passaic, NJ, reports that he had to spend $350,000 to install 69 surveillance cameras, recording devices, and video storage banks in order to stop fake “slip and fall” insurance claims against his store. It’s a cost that just adds to the cost of living for everyone and is a perfect example of the abuse of the legal system that we see every day with this avalanche of frivolous lawsuits.
While the cameras also help Mr. Cuellar track and prevent shoplifting–another expensive problem in retail–the main purpose of the cameras, he says, is to stop abusive, frivolous lawsuits lodged by unscrupulous crooks pretending to be customers.
“Yesterday alone we had a consumer who came back in [the store] and claimed she fell,” Mr. Cuellar recounts in the video, Supermarket Swindle (seen below). “Once the loss-prevention director said, ‘Let’s pull it up on the camera,’ she goes, ‘No, I just twisted my ankle.’ And the story changed all of the sudden.”
Cuellar spent half a million dollars to prevent being inundated with these frivolous lawsuits. Imagine what he could have done with that money if he didn’t need to waste it in such a manner. He’d have been able to expand his business, advertise more, hire more people, or even do more for the community.
“Being an entrepreneur, you always want to continue to grow,” Cuellar said. “But I do think twice about it, because of the things I can’t control.”
This isn’t just a problem in Passaic, New Jersey, either. This is a problem seen throughout the country. Imagine the billions wasted a year to attempt to prevent frivolous lawsuits and just imagine what better uses to which that money can be put.
Check out FacesofLawsuitAbuse.org for more information.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.