There is a great opinion piece out of Austin, TX from the Austin Bar Association president, Randy Howry. A little background: the President of the Round Rock Express baseball team wrote to the Austin Statesman and complained about the number of lawsuits that resulted in large payouts by team owners. One problem.......the team has not been sued. OOPS!
The problem with tort reform is that the reformers just make stuff up. You read about lawsuit abuse, but they don't have the statistics, data or any information that supports their nonsense. They don't talk about the current laws that protect them from lawsuits or how the contingency fee system actually protects them from frivolous lawsuits. They don't talk about the record profits of the insurance companies or about the large number of lawsuits that businesses file against one another and individuals.
They don't talk about any of these issues. Why? Because when you start talking about these issues they lose the debate. The facts show that there is no lawsuit abuse issue. So, the next time you hear someone advocating for tort reform, ask them for facts.
Jonathon is right. It's no longer shocking how far the reformers will go to get a soundbite in. The problem is, though, that most people do think that limiting verdicts is a good idea--that is until it's their case. Everyone thinks that their case is the exception.
Here's what the trial lawyers need to do:
1. Be ethical in your practice.
2. Pursue good cases and don't let the wrongdoers get away with injuring folks without paying for it.
3. Don't pursue frivolous cases.
Look the contingent fee system does keep frivolous cases out of the courtroom. Most of the stupid cases are business to business lawsuits, where both sides have a lot of money to just spend.
The trial lawyers, however, need to condemn frivolous cases when they see them.
Posted by: Ben Glass | April 01, 2006 at 01:19 PM