CYA

The acronym says it all and it is everywhere in the modern office.  Cover your ass. 

Currently I'm trying to find out some information based on a hypothetical situation that could likely occur in my near future.  I have never had such a hard time getting answers.  In the ever present landscape of lawsuits, suing, etc. no one wants to give advice or recommendations on a generalized question.  The constant answer is some form of, 'we can't advise you on that, because you might not be using our services and another service provider might have a different policy.'  Amazingly after poking around on the Internet for a while I found a general statement referring to the state regulation of this service on a particular service provider's website.  Anyways the frustrating part about this exercise is that everyone is so concerned with looking out for their "back" that no realizes that by the time I'm in the situation and check with the new provider it will be too late.  It's a catch-22 I guess brought on by the increase in lawsuits, but I would venture to guess that for every 10 lawsuits there are probably 2-3 that are irrational.  So we are screwed over because of 20-30% of the crappy lawsuits affecting the rest of society.