True story-a buddy asked me to cover an arb for him. Someone was suing a theme park because he was bit by a bat. Like an idiot, I assumed there was some basis for his claim. I figured there was a South African Fruit Bat exhibit or something and one got out and bit the guy. It turns out it was just a random bat. It was probably sick and disoriented and was out during the day. I was livid-what was the theme park supposed to do- Install anti-aircraft batteries, build a dome?
The carrier paid a couple of grand to make it go away because it was not worth the cost of defending.
And that is the problem in a nutshell. As long as the tort lawyers can identify the point where settling crap suits is less costly than fighting and winning them, they have a gold plated money machine. They win either way: quick settlement or lots of billable hours. The only solution I can see to stop the frivolous suits is a loser-pays system.