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Beyond family chain letters: How mental anguish actually works in a lawsuit

If we were to ask you to describe a frivolous personal injury lawsuit, you would probably include exorbitant non-economic damages, such as multi-million dollar claims of emotional distress.

Most people learn of these payouts from obnoxious chain emails or cable news talk shows with headlines like: “THIS IS WHAT’S WRONG WITH OUR COUNTRY!!!”

These anecdotes are often completely made up (like the infamous story of a burglar who got stuck in his victim’s garage for eight days and sued for mental anguish), but their legal foundation is sturdy.

Child support shouldn’t be spent on designer shoes and landscaping, but sometimes it is

More than a third of all the articles we’ve written over the past 15 months have addressed child support in one form or another because -- much like kids -- it’s an emotional, expensive, and sticky issue.

The state of Washington has a simple table for estimating child support obligations, but A) the table only goes up to a combined income of $144k in annual income and B) It doesn't factor in education-related costs, work-related daycare, uninsured medical expenses, and extra-curricular activities.

4 Concert injury lawsuits, ranked by how Rock ’n Roll the facts of the case were

Back in our day, getting hurt at a concert was a rite of passage, crowd surfing an artist was a privilege, and catching something thrown from the stage was a souvenir you’d never part with.

Apparently, things have changed.

There’s no better example of this than a shoe Justin Bieber threw into the crowd being auctioned for $6,000 (which overshadowed the equally ridiculous story of its other half getting a dedicated Instagram account). But seeing as we’re not sneakerheads, Beliebers, or wildly irrational human beings, that’s not a story we can comment on with any expertise.

4 Myths about personal injury lawsuits you should stop believing

It turns out that some of our readers are interested in more substantive posts than ones about celebrity courtroom drama.

We know this because our posts are still outranked on Google by AllLaw.com, which is a tad frustrating since theirs provide bland, unspecific explanations (and zero toilet humor).

For example, take their article entitled: What You Must Prove to Win a Slip and Fall Injury Claim.

3 Divorce reactions that will convince you it’s better to be alone

Do you know what the worst part of divorce is? It’s not over when you sign the dotted line.

In place of court dates, you’ll be dealing with child custody arrangements, alimony payments, and the horrors of a joint Netflix account.

Moving on is hard, and the best thing you can do to smooth the transition is to address you and your ex’s concerns as fairly and as early as possible.