It’s the law: Struggles for legal tender

In his classic, “The Pretender,” Jackson Browne lamented, “I’m going to be a happy idiot and struggle for the legal tender.” As Browne keenly observed, money (and life) creates angst. It is also the major factor that leads to civil lawsuits. When asked to explain what a civil attorney does, I say that it usually boils down to either arguments about money or arguments about what to do with money.
One of my professors in law school allegedly taught wills and trust — but he always claimed that what he really studied was money. Some of his studies explored timeless, eye-rolling homilies such as, “Money can’t buy happiness.” One can only imagine his plea when applying for research grants: “I need lots of money to see whether it is true that money can’t buy happiness.” And, in fact, one of his studies was following lottery winners for 20 or so years to see whether they were happier before or after winning the lottery. His conclusion was that nearly all the winners were happier before they won the lottery.
Another interesting phenomenon with lottery winners: A healthy percentage lost all their winnings, which, I suppose, made them even more miserable. He asked people, once informed that lottery winners are lost and dejected souls, if that would dissuade them from playing. The answer was invariably “no.” It seems that people are convinced that misery will pass them by, that they are the exception to the rule.
I suspect that one reason lottery winners tend to be less happy is the pressure that comes from friends and family the moment they realize they have a rich friend or relative. This is exactly what happened to a man I know, we’ll call him Lucky, whose brother-in-law won the lottery about 10 years ago. Lucky was convinced that he had paid for the winning ticket, so he sued for his share of the winnings. The lawsuit, of course, wreaked havoc on Lucky’s and his family’s lives. The judge, by the way, wasn’t convinced that Lucky had bought the winning ticket. So, not only did Lucky ruin his family and social life, he also spent what money he had hoping that the legal system would hand him a winning ticket.
It should come as no surprise that the dangers of money extend to our legal system. It is not uncommon for a litigant to prevail simply because he can throw dollars at the litigation when the other side cannot.
One form of this strategy arose among corporations that were determined to prevent individuals from speaking out against a corporation’s plans. A common scenario was a developer with plans to build on a popular open space. If people opposed the plan, the developer immediately sued those individuals for “slander” or some similar theory. The inability of the individuals to finance the defense of the lawsuit effectively squashed any resistance to the plan. Lawyers called this strategy Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation.
About 20 years ago, however, the Legislature determined that the Constitutional right to free speech and to petition the government was being throttled by SLAPPs. So, it passed an anti-SLAPP law. This allows someone who appears as though he is being denied his First Amendment rights, because of a SLAPP lawsuit, to have a quick hearing (called a “motion” among lawyers) before a judge to test the lawsuit. If the judge finds that the lawsuit is, in fact, depriving the defendant of his First Amendment rights, the lawsuit is dismissed and the plaintiff is required to pay the defendant’s costs for the anti-SLAPP motion.
The anti-SLAPP law is a step in the right direction of removing the influence of the almighty buck on the judicial system, but it is only a small step, since it only operates if the First Amendment is involved. Most lawsuits do not rise to a Constitutional level, and in those cases, justice can all too frequently be bought.
A man named Paul once wrote, “Money is the root of all evil.” Two thousand years later, my law professor came to the same conclusion. But when asked whether he would accept $1 million if someone handed it to him, there was no hesitation: “I’ll take it.” I doubt many of us would answer differently.
Gary Redenbacher of Scotts Valley is an attorney in private practice. Contact him at ga**@re*********.com.