“Only in America” is a cliche for a good reason.

Last week delivered yet another mind-boggling US law suit to make you gasp and shake your head. Shannon Derick, a 14-year-old girl is suing her friend, Stephanie Eick, (almost certainly an erstwhile friend, I’d guess) for returning the iPod she had borrowed in an irresponsible way. Rather than handing it to Shannon directly, Stephanie put the iPod on her (erstwhile) friend’s school desk. A thief promptly pocketed the device.

Rather than calling in Colombo (to find the criminal and trap them into a confession), or CSI (to gather the DNA, blood spatter, etc.) Shannon did the sensible thing and sued.

It wasn’t just the iPod, dammit, she had about $45 worth of iTunes songs on it which were not properly backed up.

(Get an iMac you idiot).

It’s clear to me that a proportion of the US population actually suffers from a litigation gene. They sue because they have to sue. There’s nothing to be done about it so stop sneering. You don’t sneer at people who suffer from other congenital conditions, do you?

What needs to happen is that Google needs to be brought in to digitally monetize legal transactions so that they cost a lot less. This would allow the litigiously afflicted to manage their condition without being impoverished by it.

Wait a minute. That’s a fine business idea. If any VCs happen to be reading this blog, please  treat the above as a n application for $1 million in seed funding.