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\\u201cWoman Sues TripAdvisor After Falling off Runaway Camel,\\u201d reports the Associated Press. \\u201cRed Bull Paying Out to Customers Who Thought Energy Drink Would Actually Give Them Wings,\\u201d eyerolls Newsweek. \\u201cTennessee man sues Popeyes for running out of chicken sandwiches,\\u201d scoffs NBC News.

We see \\u201cfrivolous lawsuit\\u201d stories all the time and have for decades. Seemingly absurd cases of get rich quick schemes often with catchy headlines, a caricature of a plaintiff friendly legal system run amok. These stories play into faux-populist tropes of a country full of lazy poor people looking to cash in and a sleazy legal system that leeches off hard-working Americans.

But how organic are these \\u201cpop torts\\u201d\\u2013\\u2013or popular stories of frivolous lawsuits\\u2013\\u2013and more importantly, how true even are they? What organizations are behind cherry-picking and teeing up these shameful tales of greed for uncritical writers, editors and producers? Who\\u2019s backing them, and what, perhaps, may be their ulterior motives?

Moreover, what are the human stakes to so called \\u201ctort reform\\u201d and how did it come to be that the vast majority of Americans came to accept the premise that, at some point in the 1980s, we all became amoral lawsuit happy scumbags out to shutdown mom and pop stores and grab a quick buck?

We are joined by the Center for Justice & Democracy's Joanna Doroshow.