A Boy Named Sued

The sign on the window of Jokers tells passers-by just how Aquilino Taglienti feels about being sued by a customer.

Oh boy, does it tell you how he feels.

In bold, red capital letters, ‘Insurance Fraud. If You See It, Report It. 1890333333.’

Below that, again in capitals, ‘Name And Shame. Ask Manager To Add Or See List Of Local People Who Are Responsible For Your Insurance Hike‘.

We certainly live in litigious times, from the Wicklow Way hill walker who recently had her €40,000 damages overturned to yesterday’s delicious diner, Annette O’Connor, awarded €20,000 plus costs after banging her knee against a table leg in the Mullingar Park Hotel. 

Yet another not-quite-upstanding Irish citizen hobbling all the way to the bank.

The fine art of ambulance chasing – where lawyers will see any injury as easy money – used to be a purely American phenomenon, but the problem has grown enormously here in Ireland over the past few years. Yesterday’s €20,000 damages had Adrian Cummins, the CEO of the Irish Restaurant’s Association, “up in arms” as he called on legislators to address the issue before more small businesses were put out of action due to the rising insurance premiums.

Tired of waiting for those legislators to act, Aquilino – who has been running Jokers takeaway in Greystones for, what, 225 years? – has decided to take matters into his own hands.

Hence the Name And Shame sign in his window.

For legal reasons, we didn’t get Aquilino to name and shame on camera here, but we were interested to hear what he had to say about the rising dangers of Ireland’s new fall-and-grab culture…