I wanted to toss out this story to have a little change from the politics talk and jump over to a little bit of social and legal commentary. No this story is not a commentary on the word of wisdom or the law of chastity because those topics are too one dimensional in this story. Instead I want to focus on suing, or bringing aggressive legal action against people and and influence there is from the gospel.
In New York, a young couple was looking to get married. The day arrived and they were going through the ceremony when a woman from the crowd who had obviously been hitting "the sauce" as part of the reception stood up and screamed in a drunken stupor the accusation that she has an affair with the groom. Since this woman just happened to be the groom's boss, it was not only uncomfortable by nature, but plausible.
This giant elephant in the room caused enough of a raucous that the 70 reception guests had to leave and the evening was over - and ruined. The bride now is suing the former boss (as the groom quit his job over this incident) for the emotional damage from the incident and probably a few other things including loss of consortium if she had an aggressive attorney.
First question...
Is there a good case for the Bride to recoup any damages? If so, what price tag could you put on those damages?
Second... (since this is an LDS blog)
Is there a standard by which Latter-Day Saints can determine whether or not it is a righteous pursuit to sue someone as opposed to showing forgiveness? Regardless of if the affair happened or not, was what this x-boss did something that has righteous remedy in the law, or is this an offense that is better left to forgiveness?
I saw no posts to this and figured I would throw in my two cents. I used to work in the wedding industry and my family actually owned a catering company and wedding reception center for several years. As far as sueing for emotional trama that will depend on the judge because this really shouldn't go to a jury. I would say that the boss is responsible for some pain and anguish but at the same time it would be up to the judge. Now as part of the second question I think that this example is a poor one. If you are getting married in the temple and find that the laws of chastity have been abused during your courtship that is something to be taken care of between the couple and their bishop. As far as sueing in general though I was raised in a very "No Sue" family. The only reason why I would sue someone is if they refused to admit responsability and pay for the damage caused either physical or emotional but then the emotional damage should be healed through an apology and seeking forgiveness not monitarily. The physical though should be paid for to repair the damage not more and not less.
ReplyDeleteI guess the heart of the post goes back to whether or not we as latter-day saints should lean more towards justice or mercy. When it comes to the law where there is damages to be made restitution for, justice is fair, but is there not also room for mercy?
ReplyDeleteIt was meant to simply be a discussion on the topic of suing individuals vs. seeking ways to remedy the problems in a more merciful manner. Thank you for checking things out on the post though.