Tort reform anyone?

[Cosmo1999]

The top 5 bogus lawsuits of 2003.Just a glimpse of the garbage wasting valuable court time and taxpayers dollars. Who else here thinks its time to put a cap on this crap? Meaning laws to limit what you can sue for and definately putting a cap on what can be awarded. Hell someone could spill something on themselves in a restaurant, get laughed at and sue for emotional duress because they were too **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** stupid not to knock the desert over.

 

[sqwkvfr]

Hear, hear!!!

What do you think about the following ideas?

-Attorneys are not allowed to collect a percentage of the award after the fact....they are required to be paid hourly and there must be a running total kept so lawyers won't "pad the books" to collect the big check if the action is settled in their favor.

-Class action lawsuits are no more....they serve ONE purpose....to make the attorneys bringing the action and their partners rich....while the people actually affected end up with a check for $13.78 and credit toward future purchase from the company being sued.

-The loser of the lawsuit must pay the winner's lawyer bill. (which, according to reform #1, needs to be tallied BEFORE the case is decided)

-Damages awarded must be quantified in a reasonable manner....puntive damages should be limited to less than $100K and damages for "emotional distress" need to be eliminated.

-If the case involves a person who died or was injured as a result (or a partial result) of his/her own actions, the standard for this action to proceed past summary judgement must be that the actions on the part of a second party should "shock the conscience."

-Once an action is initiated, it should be seen through to conclusion via decision by jury or dismissal by a magistrate or judge.....no "settlement out-of-court" should EVER be allowed. (that'd make you think twice about suing someone, wouldn't it?)

-Criminal actions MUST be separated from civil actions.....the costs of civil actions should be paid for by user fees or a portion of the award.....this would help free up criminal courts and restore public confidence in the criminal court system....

-No one should be allowed to initiate a product liability action if the product in question is more than (insert your own number here, perhaps it needs to vary for different products) years old.

-All appointed judges should be up for re-election every five years.

One of the big priorities for the Bush administration in their second term is tort reform.....it's too hot politically to tackle during a first term.

You can bet your a$$ that Republicans, not Democrats, will be the party to pass tort reform, and this is a big reason for my support of G-Dub.

 

[SteveR]

You can forget about any significant changes to our legal system anytime soon. Too many politicians have their hands in the pocket of some lawyer. The largest single contributor to Democrats is the American Trial Lawyers Association. Don't expect to see any type of reform to our screwed up legal system as long as the dems have a say.

 

[Timebuilder]

Hear, hear.

The Trial Lawyers are, unfortunately, the greatest impediment to freedom from tyranny in America since the King of England.

 

[sqwkvfr]

You can forget about any significant changes to our legal system anytime soon. Too many politicians have their hands in the pocket of some lawyer. The largest single contributor to Democrats is the American Trial Lawyers Association. Don't expect to see any type of reform to our screwed up legal system as long as the dems have a say.

Yup....but it's high on the agenda for Bush if he gets a second term. I think the Republicans will begin right after the '04 election, or shortly after the mid-term election....depending on how the congressional races go this time around.

I think that it would be wise to make this a campaign issue late in the election......so the trial lawyers don't have time to roll out too many damaging negative adds. Think of the potential...the Dems would be forced on the wrong side of the issue.......apologists for ambulance chasers.

That's it! I'm sending my resume to Karl Rove!! I'm certain he'll be impressed.

 

[Chunk]

Instead of a 100K cap on punitive, just make a multiplier...like 2.0 times the amount of ACTUAL damages. That way, big torts (like massive fraud) can get big payouts (only because the the harm was writ large) but slip-n-falls are limited. It's *gasp* fair that way...

 

[bart]

One other reform:

Punitive damages are paid to a charity picked at random, and no attorney fees may be collected from those damages.

By definition punitive damages are to punish the defendant, not enrich the plaintiff and their attorney.

 

[Dizel8]

Many politicians are by trade, surprise, lawyers and as someone else pointed out, trial lawyers are large "givers", so I do not think, we will see any change, as sad as that is.

 

[Cosmo1999]

ya thats for sure, especially if there are a lot of democrats in the office. Democrats have always favored large settlements. Lets see multi-million dollar settlements, lawyer gets 33% of that, lawyer lines democrats pocket for campaign, democrats are against tort reform hmmmmm thats strange I wonder why.

 

[Vector4fun]

Let me state up front that I agree something needs to be done to limit frivolous lawsuits. No Question.

But before everyone starts signing petitions, think about this situation:

You've been shafted to the tune of oh, say $5000 by a large company.

Said company has a staff of lawyers on retainer and/or in house.

Said company has no intention of going to arbitration to settle the matter cheaply.

Said company has Political ties to a Judge in the case.

Said company would prefer to delay trial as long as possible, using every legal manuver possible to make a trial as expensive as possible, thereby intimidating anyone else from filing a similar lawsuit.

How much would you be willing to spend to get your $5k back? Would you risk $20K? $30K? More? Do you know what it costs to hire a couple top-notch lawyers and suffer through a two year discovery period, followed by a week long trial in State Court?

I do, and it costs substantially more than $30K. The Company involved spent more than $135K defending it's self against a $5K lawsuit when the other party was perfectly willing to go to arbitration to begin with. Do you understand the message the Company was trying to send?

(The Company eventually lost btw, and was denied further appeal. The merits of the $5k Judgement plus attorny's fees were upheld. No other damages were sought or ordered.)

Change the laws, but be very careful what you wish for. You might just get it.