Cyrus Dugger

NY Times: They Say We Have Too Many Lawsuits? Tell It to Jack Cline

A great editorial on tort "reform" from Sunday's New York Times.

They Say We Have Too Many Lawsuits? Tell It to Jack Cline January 14, 2007 Editorial Observer

By ADAM COHEN, Birmingham, Ala.

Jack Cline is in a hospital here fighting for his life, stricken by leukemia that he says he got from exposure to benzene at his factory job. In most states, he would be able to sue the companies that made the benzene. But Alabama’s all-Republican, wildly pro-business Supreme Court threw out his case.

In a ruling that would have done Kafka proud, the court held that there was never a valid time for Mr. Cline to sue. If he had sued when he was exposed to the benzene, it would have been too early. Alabama law requires people exposed to dangerous chemicals to wait until a “manifest” injury develops. But when his leukemia developed years later, it was too late. Alabama’s statute of limitations requires that suits be brought within two years of exposure.

Mr. Cline, who says God has kept him alive so he can challenge the unfairness of Alabama’s law, told his lawyer, Robert Palmer, to keep fighting. Mr. Palmer started a statewide petition drive, wrote a flurry of op-ed pieces and asked the court to reconsider. In an extraordinary move, it reopened the case and heard new arguments last spring.

Big business and its allies are loudly promoting “tort reform” by arguing that America is drowning in frivolous lawsuits. They are winning the public relations battle. Everyone knows the story of the woman who sued McDonald’s because she was burned by hot coffee. But few people know of the Jack Clines — and there are many of them — who have been denied their day in court.

Corporate America — with its large contributions to political and judicial candidates, and its top-dollar lobbyists — has had remarkable success persuading legislatures and courts to erode the bedrock principle of civil law: when people are injured, they are entitled to sue for damages. (link)

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Posted at 10:13 AM, Jan 15, 2007 in
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