|
zarre lawsuits buzzed on the internet, and major media outlets like U.S. New and World Report picked up on the stories without fact checking. Conservative columnists at smaller papers also ran with these urban legends of runaway jury verdicts. Did you hear the one about the man who sued Winnebago after setting his R.V. on cruise control and going to the back to make some coffee? How was he supposed to know the R.V. would crash? The fact that the incident never happened didn't stop papers like the Weirton Daily Times in West Virginia from printing the story in a column calling for tort reform.
Have insurance rate gone up? Sure. The insurance industry is one of the most profitable industries. The companies typically make most of their profits in stocks and bonds. When the bubble burst on Wall Street several years ago the industry jacked up premiums to maintain their profit margin.
Will outlawing our right to sue grossly negligent doctors for punitive damages stop the escalating costs of health care? The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office figures that medical malpractice lawsuits account for one half of one percent of health care costs.
Would insurance rates go down? According to the American Insurance Association, "The insurance industry never promised that tort reform would achieve specific premium savings." (March 13, 2002) and the American Tort Reform Association added, "We wouldn't tell you or anyone that the reason to pass tort reform would be to reduce rates." (July 19, 1999).
What will tort reform accomplish? It will limit our ability to hold corporations accountable for their misdeeds. Corporate America has succeeded to a great extent in buying up our legislators and capturing regulatory bodies. We must not let them wrest control of the judicial system as well.
Greenbaum is an organizer for Metro Justice, a member-based peace and justice organization in Rochester, NY. He can be reached at metroj@frontiernet.net
|
|
