Justice in Peri

Years ago, I sued a formerassociate for stealing and appropriating my intellectual property.

We went to court. After two hundredthousand dollars in legal fees, I lost on a technicality.

I protested, where is justice?

“If you want justice,” a friend ofmine, another lawyer, said in a sarcastic tone, “get yourself a dog and call itjustice.”

No justice?????

The goddess of justice is blind, asall the sculptures demonstrate. Blind to what? To common sense. To values.  Justiceis served by the dry interpretation of the written word called “the law.” By amanual. We have relinquished reasoning to the interpretation of a manual.

It is not only the dry, formal lawthat can ignore common sense and block justice, an example of (A) overruling(I). Economic factors and corruption play a significant role, too.

I challenge you. Try suing an insurance company on a case you know and they know, you have the right to be paid for your damages.  

The insurance company has a brigade of administrators paid to drag your case on for years. For an individual,  the cost of fighting exceeds the value of winning. Although you have justice on your side, you probably will give up the fight. I did.

In corrupt countries, justice isnot only blind but in chains.

For example, a businessperson has alucrative deal providing services to the government. Another powerful and better-connectedbusinessperson wants the deal for himself. Instead of competing in themarketplace, he builds a fake case of some violation of the law by the businesspersonalready providing the service. As the interested businessperson is politicallypowerful, the court sentences  the existentservice provider,  the more powerful businesspersongets the deal, and “justice” is served.. (This is an actual case that happenedin Russia)

As change accelerates and increases the number of cases clog the judicial system (in Brazil you might have to wait ten to fifteen years to get your case dealt with),  as powerful companies have the financial resources to fight the single justice-seeking citizen who does not have the resources,

 as lawyers seek the best return on their time and thus refuse to deal with some cases,  and the cost of going the legal route to seek justice becomes prohibitive, and as corruption dominates the judicial system in many countries, justice is increasingly in peril.

Just thinking,

Ichak Kalderon Adizes