patching...
Welcome back, Patch Blogger!
Local Voices
Travis Akin is the executive director of Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch, a legal watchdog group.

Inmate bites off more than he can chew with lawsuit against jail

Inmate lawsuits never cease to amaze. It would seem that finding ridiculous ways to file lawsuits is a full-time job for America’s inmates. One inmate in Florida has turned a bite of a Peanut M&M into a lawsuit.

Thankfully a federal judge slapped down the lawsuit from a Florida inmate who claimed the Naples Jail Center failed to fix a tooth he allegedly cracked after biting down on a Peanut M&M, which he described as a “rock encrusted in chocolate.”

The inmate wanted money for his dental work as well as for pain and suffering. The judge called the lawsuit, “fatally flawed,” and threw out the case.

Yet another inmate lawsuit bites the dust.

Here in Illinois, inmates are upset about the amount of soy content in the food served in prison (http://bit.ly/cAkxLH) and in Florida, the issue is a Peanut M&M too hard to eat. While these lawsuits are wildly entertaining – there are costs involved to fight these legal battles. Yes, most of these cases do get dismissed but it takes time and money to fight these lawsuits – money governments at all levels do not have. While inmates sit in their cells dreaming up lawsuits – shouldn’t we spend just a little bit of time working on ways to reform our judicial system?

As a society we should work together to improve our legal system instead of footing the bill to fight off lawsuits every time an inmate fractures a filling after eating a Peanut M&M.   

 

 

Comment_arrow

Travis Akin

7:07 am on Thursday, April 26, 2012

I will use my next blog to answer your question. Thanks for asking!

Leave a comment