Chinese citizens are taking their first, tentative steps towards an American-style litigious society - or are they? If so, this example will certainly not set the class-action lawsuit industry ablaze in China. I read today about a female government official from Nanjing whose lap and private parts were badly scalded by a cup of boiling water accidentally spilled on her, apparently by a careless flight attendant on Northwest Airlines.

The captain took note of her injuries and asked two ground staff at Narita to take her to an airport clinic. But the airline would not pay US$200 for her, so she left without treatment, a decision that cost her 3 months of suffering.

What is the unfortunate woman asking in return? US$1, and apologies in major newspapers, a case she is fighting in a higher court in Hawaii. Methinks she may have better luck in getting good lawyers if she upped the ante slightly - by a factor of a hundred million, say. That tends to focus corporate attention.

To be clear, I do not expect tendentious lawsuits dragging their way through China's rickety court system anytime soon.:)

Oh, and if this story was not strange enough, a witness that said that she actually spilled the drink on herself was a Japanese missionary.