text: what does 'good-samaritan law' mean? and why they name it that way?   the good samaritan law means that if you stop to help someone who (for example) was in an accident, they can't sue you if what you did caused them further injury. or they can't sue if you didn't have specialized training and you still tried to help. the law was intended to encourage the average person to help people in distress without worrying that they'd get sued for damages later.