Cyrus Dugger
Steve Roberts’ Hypocrisy: There Has Been No Pause
I’ve previously written about the hypocrisy of the lawsuit by Steve Roberts, President of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, in my op-ed “Sue as I Say Not As I Sue” in the West Virginia Record. In short, after his own daughter was injured by a young neighbor in a paintball accident, Roberts filed a lawsuit asking for the very type of non-economic damages that his organization publicly criticizes and attempts to limit for the residents of West Virginia.
As a result, I feel obligated to keep a sharp eye on what he and his Chamber advocate for to the state assembly. A January 5th article in the Record discussed the state of the never ending public relations and legislative battle between the West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
My hope, as expressed in the conclusion of my op-ed on Roberts, was that the experience of finding himself in a situation in which he needed to file the type of lawsuit he publicly opposed would help him see the light. In my op-ed I concluded :
In a telling turn of events, the shrill anti-lawsuit rhetoric that Roberts helped to create in the West Virginia Chamber is now just as easily turned against Roberts’ daughter’s, his wife’s, and ultimately his own claim for compensation.
This irony should give sometimes self-righteous tort “reformers” across the country, at the very least, a moment of pause. (link)
There has been no pause. In the Chamber’s January 2007 Seven Solutions policy release the Chamber states:
West Virginia must enact meaningful judicial reforms so employers can feel secure operating in this state under a fair and balanced legal system. West Virginia needs to come in line with nearly every other state and enact fair reforms. A fair and just legal system is the hallmark of any progressive society. (link)In a January 2007 op-ed, Roberts advocates for the chamber’s “Seven Solutions” plan.
The Chamber still lists the limitation of non-economic damages as a goal, even as their president is moving forward with a lawsuit seeking relief primarily based on non-economic damages:
Other non-economic damages – Establish a uniform standard for non-economic awards, taking into consideration whether the claim causing situations caused severe physical injury. If so, the maximum should bear some relationship to a standard formula beyond just compensation for damages determined by the verdict (link)
As far as I have been able to tell, Roberts has not yet publicly defined what he thinks would be an appropriate limitation on damages for his own suit, or committed to returning any amount he may receive in excess of this amount. Getting a number from Roberts shouldn’t be that hard. Since the cap(s) desired by the chamber have not yet come to pass, Roberts still has the luxury of stating a cap on his damages that he personally he feels is correct, instead of having it imposed by his own chamber’s legislation. Lucky him.
What the entire issue demonstrates is that at some point somebody has to decide how much a person should be compensated for their suffering when injured. The question is should it be up to Roberts himself, his chamber, or the juries and the judicial process that have been deciding and working through these issues since our nation’s inception.
Personally, I believe if we can rely a jury to make the decision of putting a person to death for their crimes, we can rely on them to judge the amount of money a person should receive for their injuries.
Then again, we can just let Roberts tell us how much being partially blinded in one eye (as happened to his daughter) is “worth.”
In his op-ed, Roberts also praises the insurance "reforms" his chamber has pushed through the state legislature. And yet, these same insurance reforms, which make it more difficult for him to sue the defendant's home insurance policy for potential bad faith denials, are the very type that Roberts complained of before being forced to file suit.
It’s also interesting that the Chamber is advocating for legal reforms while it and others observe that West Virginian business is doing extraordinarily well, despite being characterized as a “judicial hell hole” by the American Tort Reform Association.
WEST VIRGINIA The entire state of West Virginia is listed by ATRA as Hellhole #1. In its 2005 report, ATRA named West Virginia as Hellhole #3. This was based on factual errors, and also ignored other evidence to the contrary. It has also resulted in condemnation by local officials. As reported by the Associated Press on December 12, 2006, “Members of [West Virginia’s] interim Joint Commission on Economic Development criticized the ongoing effort by the state chamber, its U.S. counterpart and other business groups to tar the Mountain State as a ‘judicial hellhole.’”There is strong evidence that West Virginia’s economy is in better shape today than in recent memory. “In the 12 month period between December 2004 and December 2005, more than 11,000 jobs were created in West Virginia.” The state ranked among the ten lowest in the nation in terms of cost of doing business, according to the 2005 Milken Institute Cost of Doing Business Index, with costs thirteen percent below the national average. Its revenues for the 2004-5 budget year came in at over $430 million – more than thirteen percent above original budget projections. In addition, since taking office. In 2004, Governor Joe Manchin, in his “Open For Business” campaign, has dedicated state resources to continuing positive trends in the state’s economy with positive results already projected around job growth and investment. (link)
And as stated by Roberts himself:
West Virginia's current economic resurgence is being fueled by a strong energy sector and by billions of dollars in investments in a wide range of other business sectors. Employment is up by nearly 8,000 jobs in the past year, and the state's unemployment rate remains at historically low levels. (link)
If West Virginia business is doing so well with its current civil justice system, you’ve got to ask yourself, why “fix” a system that isn’t broke?
Posted at 11:40 AM, Jan 08, 2007 in Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
