Common sense in the court

March 24, 2011

The Gaithersburg Gazette

In what feels like an increasingly rare moment of judicial prudence, a U.S. District Court judge in Greenbelt made the right call last week in denying a request that the Olney Boys and Girls Club stop using the name "Field of Screams" for its fall fundraiser.

Last year, a Pennsylvania company, Field of Screams LLC, sued the Olney club, stating it had been using the name for its Mountville, Pa., attraction since 1993. The lawsuit stated the use of the name could confuse potential patrons and siphon customers away from what it considers a part of its market.

Never mind that the Pennsylvania venue is 100 miles and two hours away.

In her decision, Judge Deborah K. Chasanow wrote that there is evidence of significant third-party use of "Field of Screams," with 26 other haunted events across the country with the same name.

"If the Field of Screams mark were truly a distinctive term, it is unlikely that so many other businesses in the haunt industry would independently [use] this ... or similar variants of it," she wrote.

The case could still go forward to a full hearing and if the Pennsylvania company, which wants $75,000 in damages, presses the matter, it will mean more time in court and more expenses to defend a meritless lawsuit. The waste of time and money is even more unfortunate considering the Olney club is a nonprofit organization, not a multinational company with billions in the bank. This isn't McDonald's defending a case of spilled hot coffee.

The scary thing is that these lawsuits happen all the time in a heavily litigious and legally-hyperaware society. In 2005, the last year for which data are available, there were more than 16.6 million civil claims filed in the nation's courts, according to the National Center for State Courts. Per capita, Maryland had the heaviest load in the nation, with 17,249 civil cases per 100,000 people. The District was next, with 13,573 per 100,000 people; in third place — Virginia, with 12,662 per 100,000 people.

No doubt D.C.'s concentration of attorneys (the 277 per 10,000 people dwarfs second-place New York at 20.4 per 10,000, according to the Avery Index, a company that ranks law firms) is a factor.

These types of lawsuits have negative ripple effects, according to a 2010 report from the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, a business organization advocating for tort reform. The report states that the tort liability price tag for small businesses in 2008 was $105.4 billion and in a poll, 62 percent of small business owners said they make business decisions to avoid lawsuits.

As happens every year, there are debates at the state and federal levels regarding all manner of tort reform (one proposal in the General Assembly would use $100,000 to create a commission to study state-administered malpractice insurance), but a bit of common sense and fairness would go much further in eliminating frivolous lawsuits. The most recent example: not trying to squeeze a nonprofit that provides athletic opportunities for kids out of tens of thousands of dollars without concrete evidence of harm.

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