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Access-To-Justice Is Not a Legal Problem—It's an Economic Problem

The key is not a person's wealth. The key is a given claim's value.

· Mission,About,Justice,Low-Value Claims,Economics

To rediscover why justice is good, start by closing your eyes.

Why do you suppose Lady Justice wears a blindfold? Many people say it's because she symbolizes impartiality, because she ignores a person's wealth or influence, and because she metes out justice solely based on the weight of facts placed on her scale.

The point is not that wealth is bad, because...this is America: we don't disparage wealth. But we do get upset when justice is denied because someone cannot afford access to the legal system.

What most people don't realize is that this proverbial person who cannot afford justice is actually you.

On one hand, you have wealthy, litigious Americans who seems to sue just about anybody they don't like (example: Donald Trump). On the other hand, you have the rest of us: we can only afford to sue when the economics make sense, and for most of us, most of the time, they don't.

Maybe you bought a coffee from Starbucks and you found sand in it. Maybe your gallon of milk spoiled before its expiration date. We face daily frustrations over minor purchases that fail to meet our expectations, and most of the time, these frustrations go unresolved.There are literally thousands of mundane moments like this in a given year.

What frustrates us most is the logic of the whole thing.

Although we feel strongly that we're entitled to get our money back, we can't afford to pursue the claim, because it would cost more to pursue than we stand to gain. The traditional law firm model that begins at $250/hour simply cannot address most of our legal problems.

This is why Lady Justice wears a blindfold. Because if she took it off, she would see (what I call) the "low-value claim problem," and I'm afraid to think of what she might then do with that sword.

"In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same." --Albert Einstein

Brilliant guy, that Einstein, but he was not an economist.

The fact is that most of the legitimate legal claims we face in life involve dollar amounts too low to justify our pursuit.

It's not because some dollar amounts are too low to concern justice; for justice is always concerned. It's because the hard costs of accessing the legal system, whether by hiring an attorney or doing the legal legwork yourself, are often too high, even at the low-end, to convince us that pursuing some low-value claim would be worth it. In fact, that's why we tend to signal giving up by asking the question, "is this really worth it?" The answer for most claims we face in life is no.

Bottom line: getting what you're legally entitled to should not entail the economic question of affordability.

That's why we founded Veeto.

Is Veeto Any Good? Here's What The Reviews Say

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There’s a lot of work (and money) that goes into earning money, which is why even the small amounts matter. Take advantage of Veeto's $32 micro-consultation when you someone tries to part you from your hard-earned money.