Why I Sued an Elephant “Throw him in prison! He won’t give me animal crackers!” I pointed to a gray stuffed elephant sitting innocently on a high chair. My 11-year-old brother, whom I convinced to be the judge in this scenario, hit a spoon on the kitchen table. “Demand! Demand! Mr. Ayers, you are guilty of eating Jesse’s cupcake. You must give her all your animal crackers as an apology or go to prison.” I smiled and took my winnings while my parents continued to cook dinner. And that was the last time I would sue someone. This was a normal activity for me and my brother when we were kids. We’ve seen the road a lot Law and order Back in the day I would love to play Timing Court. I would say it gave us a distorted view of the world in which people sue each other every second of the day at the drop of a hat. But, unfortunately, this is very close to the truth…at least in the United States. And that is precisely why I made an effort to be proactive in protecting my hard-earned fortune. Something I want to emphasize today… Let’s just use the last year as an example of what I mean. Some of the top petty lawsuits of 2016 include: Two people are suing Starbucks in a class action lawsuit alleging excessive consumption of evaporated milk. Another customer sued because of too much snow. A woman sued beauty company Fresh Incorporated because she thought there was more Sugar Lip Treatment under an empty tube. (I’m scratching my head at that, too.) Another woman won $161,000 after she climbed a ladder while texting, causing her phone to hit her face. PETA sued a photographer, claiming that Naruto – the monkey who took a selfie – owned the copyright to the image. This case actually began in 2015 and was only settled in September 2017. In the end, the photographer agreed to donate 25% of his future earnings from the photo to protect Naruto. It is not clear who had to pay $261,200 in legal costs that left the photographer penniless. Finally, a MasterCard card holder sued the company for raising more than $30 million for cancer research when the original goal was just $4 million. Yes, the company was sued because it raised a lot of money for a good cause. At this point, I can probably sue a stuffed elephant in actual court. But is it really surprising? As of 2014, 1.2 million lawyers reside in the United States – which is more than 70% of the world’s lawyers. This represents an increase of more than 100% over the 1980 total of 574,810. This dramatic growth illustrates how much American society relies on lawyers to solve problems of any kind. And it has made us an incredibly contradictory society. About 15 million lawsuits were filed in America last year. This is a new lawsuit every two seconds. In September 2016, the American Bar Association found that the annual cost to the US economy of civil lawsuits was $239 billion. The estimated annual cost per citizen of these suits is $812. As people who are committed to growing and protecting our wealth, I believe it is crucial for us to understand the potential issues here. People like to sue. And if you’ve built up an impressive store of wealth, you’re especially vulnerable. So I urge you to start protecting yourself. The first step is to research how the attorney will protect your life.