The quote from Investors Business Daily at the close of article:
IBD-E’s argument works across the entirety of the American economy, which is too vulnerable to predatory lawsuits. If Congress passed sensible tort reform that creates substantial penalties for plaintiffs and their attorneys for filing nuisance suits and baseless claims — in other words, make them bear the costs of abuse rather than the defendants — we could lift a serious burden from the entire economy, not just the health-care industry. However, as long as Democrats remain married to the trial lawyers, the chances of that kind of reform approach zero.
And from the Irritable Pundit over at Brushfire Sparks comes this fine article and accompanying graphic. It would be funny if it wasn't so true!
6 comments:
I am all in favor of tort reform but it isn't a panacea for the problems in our civil legal system. Washington state enacted tort reform in the 1980's that contained the Big Kahuna of all tort refor proposals: a general ban on punative damages except in a few cases as specified by statute. The reform had an impact for a little while, but soon the level of litigation normalized again.
The one change that could have enormous reprecussions on the legal system doesn't have to do with damages or the kinds of claims that can be brought but with how one's lawyer gets paid. Eliminating contingency fees or requiring those who file lawsuits and lose to pay the other side's attorney fees (the so-called "English system") would have a huge effect on the personal injury litigation machine. Unfortunately, it would also have the effect of depriving some people with valid claims of meaningful access to the legal system by ratcheting up the up-front costs of legal representation.
Reforming our legal system will involve trade-offs. As with health care, there is no reform that can perfect the system or make it so it works flawlessly. While our current civil justice system has huge flaws, proposed reforms may have only a minimal effect on those flaws, while spawning a whole host of new flaws.
Most things in life are like that. Once I realized that this was the case, it went a long way towards turning me into a conservative.
One more thing: lawsuits serve a regulatory function in our economy. Business practices that cause or might cause harm are correct because of litigation or the possibility of litigation. A defective product, for example, might be withdrawn from the marketplace by its manufacturer because of a lawsuit. Once that threat goes away -- and the kind of reform proposed by the story you posted would effectively eliminate that threat -- the only regulator that will be left is the government.
Ooops -- I mean to write "corrected" in my last post. The sentence should read: "Business practices that cause or might cause are corrected because of litigation or the possibility of litigation."
Sorry for the typo!
Arrrrgh! Another mistake! The sentence should read: "Business practices that cause or might cause harm are corrected because of litigation or the possibility of litigation."
Serves me right.
A defective product, for example, might be withdrawn from the marketplace by its manufacturer because of a lawsuit. Once that threat goes away -- and the kind of reform proposed by the story you posted would effectively eliminate that threat -- the only regulator that will be left is the government.
I'm not suggesting that people not be allowed to bring suit. I'm only suggesting that they think hard before bringing a dingbat type suit.
When a producer of hair dryers has to tell you not to use in the bathtub there is a problem.
The warning labels on my new wide slat blinds is a a hoot. It must tell you 10 times in 10 different languages that a kid could strangle on the cord - in particular if you tie the ends together.
Plus it's plastered all over the bottom of the blinds. This tells me that a suit was filed over some kid hanging himself on the blind cord.
Off topic but i thought you would enjoy this article since you hate trolls.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/07/caution_trolls_at_work.html
Don't feed the trolls!
Mark, i'm not saying your a troll, by the way.
Post a Comment