Our court system is currently in the twilight zone created by the real world downsides to "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" and "if a little is good, then a lot must be better" concepts.
Over the last century we've changed from "if we occasionally hang an innocent man, that's the sad cost of doing business" to "better ten guilty men go free than one innocent man go to prison".
Not an expert, can't and won't say for certain, but I think the results of that idea are pretty obvious today...
Our current system includes the ability of anyone to sue anyone for any reason.
In the "unenlightened" past a judge might look at a suit and decide it had no merit and toss it out. Often with the admonishment of "Counselor, your client is an idiot and is wasting the court's time. Goodbye and don't come back!"
Today, generally speaking, such cases are allowed to continue into court, I guess the reasoning is that if they truly lack merit the court will decide that.
I think that's the theory, anyway. What happens in practice is we have clogged the courts horribly and I don't think that is a good thing.
as to pushing a child off the train tracks vs. missing the bad guy and shooting an innocent person, I think that's an apples/oranges comparison, and of no value to the discussion.