Tort Reform
On the one hand... America's rep as an overly letigious society is increasing and Ally Mcbeal is starting to look like a hard-hitting documentary...
On the other hand... What's the point of having rights if you're not allowed to sue for them in court? If the numbr of malpractice suits goes down, doesn't that mean that the number of unprosecuted people comitting malpractice is going to go up?
Trotterstan
07-08-2004, 00:12
On the one hand... America's rep as an overly letigious society is increasing and Ally Mcbeal is starting to look like a hard-hitting documentary...
On the other hand... What's the point of having rights if you're not allowed to sue for them in court? If the numbr of malpractice suits goes down, doesn't that mean that the number of unprosecuted people comitting malpractice is going to go up?
dificult issue but i think you can significantly reform tort law without removing the right to sue.
dificult issue but i think you can significantly reform tort law without removing the right to sue.
If its possible, then it should be done. I'm not completely sure it can be done though... but then I don't really have a great vested interest in keeping lawyers in Porshes.
Trotterstan
07-08-2004, 00:24
There should at the very least be regulation of punitive damage claims. The amounts are at times ridiculous.
Any government restriction is a slippery slope. I agree that without accountablilty, presently driven by lawsuits, there can be no responsibility.
However, when the accountability turns into a witch hunt it becomes counter-productive.
In the US the one professional group that does not get sued for negligence is, of all things, lawyers. Opening up the legal profession to more scrutiny and oversight may be an end-run to tort reform. Every other industry is regulated, why not law?
The trouble is, once again, where oversight turns into control, which is bad.
Limits on punitive damages is seductive, but what limits? Not dollars, that is for sure. GE could pay $250,000 punitive damages without batting an eye, but Main Street Car Wash would go bankrupt.
This is one that has no simple answer, I fear.
Kryozerkia
07-08-2004, 01:15
There should at the very least be regulation of punitive damage claims. The amounts are at times ridiculous.
I agree. At a degree, people should be allowed die process if they are indeed the victims of malpractice and their allegations can be validified.
I agree. At a degree, people should be allowed die process if they are indeed the victims of malpractice and their allegations can be validified.
"die process" freudian slip there? :)