Litigious Society

I read with interest The Times’ recent article about the lawyer who is suing the federal court in San Diego for having to remove his shoes and “walk several yards over a dirty floor in his stocking feet” because his steel-shanked penny loafers set off the court security’s metal detector (“Making Strides in Fight for Liberty,” Dec. 15).

I kept waiting for the article to develop into a parody of our litigious society, or a wry commentary on pompous lawyers who insist that as “officers of the court” they should not have to submit to the same security screening the general public faces. Instead, the article with two photos of Myron Klarfeld and his shoes, on the front page of the San Diego County section, seemed to suggest that Mr. Klarfeld’s lawsuit is a “fight for liberty” and a “dynamic study of the Bill of Rights.”

I am disappointed that The Times would treat this petty dispute as either heroic or newsworthy. Is it any wonder that our legal system continues to hurtle out of control (and lose public respect) if lawsuits like Klarfeld’s are taken seriously--indeed, are celebrated as a vindication of important constitutional rights. Come on, Mr. Klarfeld, lighten up; get a life.

MARK S. PULLIAM, San Diego