在11月和12月， more than 130 lawsuits were filed 由德克萨斯州博蒙特市的州监狱囚犯。囚犯声称遭受了心理创伤，因为监狱官员未能为9月袭击这座城市的飓风艾克做准备。监狱建筑物在很大程度上受到暴风雨的损害，囚犯和工作人员均未受伤。在监狱的缺点中列出：暴风雨后没有提供电视访问，剥夺了囚犯有关暴风雨后果的消息。该诉讼称，在第一修正案下，电视是一项基本权利。

News like that makes me wish for the return of chain gangs! Sadly, however, we live in a litigious society. Sadder still, at a time when manufacturers can least afford to divert resources from critical operating needs, they are bracing to combat more lawsuits than they have in the past. According to the fifth annual 诉讼趋势调查 by the law firm Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, 75 percent of manufacturers faced at least one new lawsuit in 2008, and more than half (53 percent) got hit with six or more new suits. Some 25 percent of the manufacturers surveyed reported facing at least one $20 million action.

Since 2004, Fulbright & Jaworski has surveyed in-house counsel for U.S. and British businesses in the education, energy, engineering and construction, financial services, health care, technology and telecommunications, manufacturing, real estate, retail and wholesale, and insurance sectors. The survey asks lawyers to consider the types of cases they fear most, as well as their attitudes on outside counsel, litigation costs and staffing, arbitration and regulatory issues, and projections for the future. Some 358 lawyers responded to the 2008 survey, which was conducted from May 22 through July 18.

对于制造商而言，结果不好。制造商没有雇用工程师，而是购买组装技术和开发新产品，而是向律师写支票。在2008年，将近四分之一（26％）的受访者在诉讼上花费了至少500万美元，不包括和解和判决费用。每年在商业纠纷上花费超过100万美元。

制造商的内部法律部门报告说，产品责任事项（57％）是他们最大的担忧，其次是合同（51％），劳动和就业问题（39％）。更糟糕的是，有26％的制造商预计诉讼在2009年将增加，而只有9％的诉讼预计西服下降。

尽管普遍的看法是制造商是由贪婪的个人和救护车造成的，但事实是，制造商至少互相起诉彼此，至少与被个人起诉一样频繁。根据调查，去年有54％的制造公司至少针对另一家企业或组织发起了一项诉讼。

“This year’s survey appears to mark an inflection point for American business, between the end of a prolonged period of prosperity and the start of a period of economic challenge that is likely to fuel litigation over who is to blame and who should pay for the consequences,” says Stephen C. Dillard, who chairs Fulbright’s global litigation practice.

Let’s hope that we can all exercise restraint, or the economy may stay in the doldrums that much longer.