TWO NEWS STORIES on two successive days last week shone the spotlight again on something that many of us have suspected for quite some time - that our 'compo culture' has really gotten out of hand.

It seems sometimes that any misfortune somebody suffers simply must be somebody else's fault, rather than down to a lack of personal responsibility or care, and therefore that somebody else must be liable for a few quid.

There was a time when we only heard of such stories from America – it was always America – of spurious claims, like the woman who supposedly sued the manufacturers of her microwave oven after she put the cat in it to try dry it out after a rainshower, only to return a few minutes later to find the poor craythur had been cooked to death. Apparently it was the manufacturer's fault for not explicitly stating in the instructions that household pets shouldn't be placed inside the oven that led to little Fluffy's death, rather than her own gross stupidity.

Or what about the man who supposedly insured his collection of fine cigars, then smoked them all, and afterwards brought a case against his insurance company for refusing to pay out on his claim that they'd all been destroyed 'in a succession of small fires'?

Legend has it that he won that claim, but then his insurance company countersued, and used his own evidence against him - that he'd deliberately put a light to all the cigars - to successfully argue that he was guilty of arson of valuable goods.

But now you don't have to go to the States to hear such stories, or to find examples of serial suers, for want of a better term. For example, there was the story last Friday of a part-time taxi driver who is suing eircom after he fell over an old P&T manhole cover outside his home. During the hearing, it transpired that it was his TWELFTH time to bring a personal injury claim in the past twenty years.

A judge in one of those earlier cases mused that he must be 'the unluckiest man in Ireland' – well, it seems his bad luck is continuing, because this time he completely blamelessly fell over that manhole cover and injured himself yet again. Never mind how he must have passed safely by it countless times over the years if it's just outside his home, and how he must have known it was there – it's still somebody else's fault when he has a mishap, just like all those other misfortunes must have been somebody else's fault too.

But it was a High Court case that was reported on Thursday that showed how far things can be stretched in the search for compensation. As a result of a car crash involving a drunken driver, in which two people (includng that driver) were killed, the publicans who served him beer are being pursued for a contribution to a ¤275,000 claim that's due to the family of the other victim.

We're not making light of what was undoubtedly a tragic situation for all concerned, but surely to suggest the crash was the fault of the publicans is taking it too far. The barman didn't lead that driver out and put him in his car. The decision to drive was taken by one man, and one man alone. Responsibility should surely stop there.

Just think what it might lead to if the case were successful, or how many pubs it would put out of business - those few of us who take a taxi home afterwards, or look where we're going while we're walking when a bit tipsy, would be at a loss forever. Because others could sue the pub for all sorts of reasons.

Caught drunk driving? It's already case history that it must the publican's fault.

Get caught 'drunk in charge' instead, while just in the car to get out of the cold? Same story - blame the pub.

Get into a row on the way home? Pub's fault again for serving you too much beer.

Hangover means you're too sick to go to work the next day? Sue the pub for loss of earnings.

Or find someone else to blame. If you're caught drunk driving, sue the local taxi company as well for not having enough cars on the road to get you home safely. If you're caught having a slash in a doorway, sue the local council for not having a public toilet in that area. It goes on and on.

'No foal, no fee' law firms are part of the problem here, but the main one is just that taking personal responsibility for your actions seems to be becoming a thing of the past.

The fact of the matter is that it's NOT always somebody else's fault. Sometimes, if you do something stupid, you have to take the blame yourself. Live with it.