Tort Reform
Anyone with common sense can see
that we have a problem in this country's legal system.
Lawsuits are out of control and we're all paying for the
problem with higher health care costs and increased costs in
general.
Many on the left are not willing to address this issue. Some
legitimately fear limiting the rights of plaintiffs, while
many partisan Democrats do not want to oppose the powerful
trial lawyer lobby that supports their campaigns.
On the other hand, many on the right are using the issue of
"reform" to severely limit the rights of plaintiffs
in favor of defendants. The system may be broken, but any
solution must provide reasonable protections to those harmed
by clear negligence.
Responsible Americans should work towards a reasonable
compromise. This should not be a left/right issue. Rather it's an issue of
fundamental fairness. (Updated 5/16/06 by Gerardo Orlando)
Latest News:
House
passes bill banning fast food lawsuits (CNN)
FactCheck.org
reviews Bush's
claims about the cost of malpractice lawsuits.
Commentary:
3/10/04
BLAME GAME:
The House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would ban
lawsuits against fast-food restaurants by obese
plaintiffs. Our courts are overrun with frivolous lawsuits,
and this bill is a step in the right direction. Some Democrats
and liberals opposed the bill, arguing that the courts are
doing their job by throwing these suits out, but why should we
permit them to be filed in the first place? Why can't the
American people, through the Congress, set some limits on how
we allocate blame in this country? In too many instances the
courts have permitted blame to be placed on third parties
while completely ignoring the responsibility of the
"injured" party. Some of the Republican efforts on
tort reform, such as limiting pain and suffering damages to
$250,000, go too far, but this legislation is long overdue,
and hopefully we will begin to consider other areas where
access to the courts should be regulated. Here's an idea - how
about protecting little league coaches who are getting sued by
crazy parents who are blaming them for not turning their kid
into the next Alex Rodriguez?
How
to Fix the Tort System
Business Week offers a pragmatic 4-point plan to fix the tort
system.
CAPS ON MEDICAL MALPRACTICE:
This is a good example
of how the cure is sometimes worse than the disease. President
Bush and the GOP are trying to impose caps on non-economic
damages at $250,000, which would be a ridiculously low for
some cases. There has to be a better approach.
Challenging Expert
Testimony:
A
Break for the Defense
In many mass-tort cases, one of the issues has involved the
diagnosis of plaintiffs by doctors. As explained by this
Business Week article, defendants are now aggressively
challenging the testimony of doctors and the diagnoses
submitted by plaintiff's counsel. One doctor discovered that
his cursory second opinions done without medical histories or
examinations were being used as evidence by plaintiffs making
silicosis claims in a Texas mass-tort lawsuit. These cases
have become a cottage industry, and it's surprising to see how
defendants have waited so long to challenge this type of
evidence.
Diagnosing
for Dollars
Fortune also takes on the silicosis mess, detailing how mass
medical screeners may have manipulated to process.
Twitch
and Shout
The mass tort cases involving welding rods were once seen as
the next asbestos, but defendants are now aggressively
alleging that the claims of manganese-induced Parkinson's were
fabricated out of thin air by lawyers and physicians.
Asbestos:
Asbestos
Mess
Lorraine Woellert argues in Business Week that Congress should
limit the right to sue to those who are already sick with
illnesses such as mesothelioma and lung cancer, as opposed to
those plaintiffs who are only showing some systems.
Comments, questions and suggestions can be sent to Gerardo
Orlando at editor@orlandoreport.com.
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