Let’s talk: What would you like to sue the government for?

Something just a little bit momentous happened overnight in The Hague. A group of 900 people, organisations and their team of lawyers sued their government – and won!

The 900 people came from all walks of life – pensioners, teachers, caseworkers, musicians, movers and shakers, plus school kids.

It all started from an online discussion between members of a non-governmental organisation who then ‘crowdpleaded’ for plaintiffs and supporters.

Their thinking was to give all the facts to a judge and let them speak to the facts, not, and I repeat not, to the politics.

James Thornton, of ClientEarth put it like this:

“By using the principles of tort law, the case “returns to the fundamental power of the court to prevent harm – it is of great relevance to courts in other countries – every country in the world has tort law.”

This case presented was against the Netherlands Government and its inaction against climate change. This success has moved citizens of other countries to take similar actions, including Belgium and Norway.

Climate change aside, this case has started us thinking. Which burning issues would I like to have dealt with by – for want of a better term – common sense? And facts. Just the facts.

It’s a dream of course, given our already overloaded legal system… BUT in a perfect world, what would you like to see happen?

If given your day in court, what would you like to sue the Government – Federal, State or Local – for? And why?

We look forward to reading about the issues that matter to you.