Japan is a high-trust society. America is the opposite.
Everything is relative, but fair enough.
The US is medium trust.
More like - America is a high-litigation society.
I don't believe threat of litigation alone explains the extent of it.
The way an American company, esp a reputable one like Google, conducts itself internally is different. There will be much more internal backlash to do the wrong thing way before litigation.
That's Hollywood narrative for you. Lawyers want cases with damaged plaintiffs and work on contingency.