Petty German litigation

As an American, I get to hear a lot of stereotypes about American litigiousness. I thought it would be fun (and good tactic) to find some stories of German petty litigation.

Someone told me that a judge had sued the state for reimbursement of his hairloss preventive expenditures. Google turned up the case ... and about a dozen others of Germans trying to get the government to cover their scalps. My stomach turned a bit. I've also heard about Germans suing (presumably the Veranstalter?) b/c their vacation wasn't perfect.

Got any IRL stories?

I don't know what "IRL" stands for, but aren't you yourself involved in "petty German litigation" with, of all people, your own housemates?

IRL stands for, "In Real Life". Works in German too, "Im Richtigen Leben".

And as a cool bumper sticker for the back of your car.

IRL = in real life

I do refer to my lawsuit "frivolous" - but when it began, it was necessary to protect myself. I'm the third person she's "excused" this way, so there's an element of generosity in being the one to stand up and say STOP.

Plus, it's a therapeutic exercise. I'd always just gotten out of the way, at great cost to myself, regardless of my legal standing. Sometimes, things would build up and I'd "stand up for myself" in ways that didn't get me what I needed. Generally, I played with open cards, giving others ammunition to use against me.

Just once, I'm playing to my strengths, keeping my cards close to my chest, just to see whether I can endure it. Already, I've discovered strength I didn't know I had.

Back to the post topic though ...

Not quite petty litigation but in the same direction... During a flight back from the US my bag got mangled by Lufthansa and was left with a sharp bit of plastic sticking out the side of it a few millimetres. While changing to the U-bahn at Marienplatz some stupid bitch, about 30 years old, pushed past me onto the train while I was struggling with my bags and the sharp edge got caught in her trouser turn-ups. She went mad at me for this affront to her rights to barge onto the train before I'd got off and grabbed hold of my shoulder trying to hold me, pointing to the minute and normally invisible hole the snag had made, asking for my haftpflichtversicherung details so she could make a claim. After a 9 hour flight home and an argument with Lufthansa I was in no mood to suffer a pointless bint like her, told her to fuck off, wrenched myself free and carried on. She gave up the chase, perhaps sensing my somewhat less than charitable reading of the situation.

In my experience Germans, with all their petty insurances, do seem to be a mindless-litigous bunch, although this seems to be spreading everywhere.

I wonder why no one yet mentioned neighbours sueing each other for things like leaves, trees hanging over, etc. That's where Germans fight for blood. Ask Google about Nachbarstreit. Some of the stories are unbelievable.

You can get some good stories from this site, too: http://www.anwaltseiten24.de/kuriose-gerichtsurteile.html

Heh, I'd forgotten about Maschendrahtzaun (chainlink fence). It was TV litigation, no less. It doesn't get any pettier.

Good lord, she reacted to an accident with a physical attack?

This is what I don't get: the widespread lack of Rechtssinn here. I'm from the Wild West, but Germans seem to be fighting hard to get the dominant corner on Selbstjustiz.

made a good song though... :-)