A case involving Wendy’s fast-food chain made national headlines when a woman claimed she had found a finger in her bowl of chili. The restaurants became the butt of jokes (some said they served nail clippers with their food instead of forks), and sales dropped dramatically at the company’s franchises. This forced layoffs and reduced hours for many employees – until the woman was arrested for fraud. Consumers commonly file lawsuits against companies to claim damages if a product or service didn’t work as expected. In some cases, the defendant just settles the suit to make it go away because it costs more to mount a defense than to just pay damages. Are there too many frivolous lawsuits? Does our justice system adequately meet the needs of both consumers and companies in terms of how it awards damages?