My take on the problem is:
1. People don't know about their cars
2. People don't know how to take good advice.
3. People have learned how to blame others for their problems and shirk personal responsibility (from out legal system).
4. Lawyers have no cost and no downside to filing a suit.

People who know cars know the consequences of an engine going out of time. It infuriates me that someone who clearly knows nothing about cars won't take their mechanic's advice. If you are ignorant, take the advice of a professional. Is this what lawyers tell their clients?

I may copy and send this incident to a group that is trying to change the laws in Illinois. They are collecting stories like this. The tort system in this country has evolved into a random legal lottery where some get huge, often undeserved settlements and some deserving folks get nothing. If they change the tort system, people will be forced to take back personal responsibility. We won't need so many lawyers - what will they all do? Perhaps they could do something that adds value to something or perhaps help grow the US GNP instead of hurting it. Maybe they would not as they have no training for these types of things. (In the US: 1 lawyer for 250 people, Japan 1 for 9000. See a problem?) Shakespeare said it best.

Steve