Kia Franklin
Pro-Business and Pro-Civil Justice? Say it ain’t so! (Part II)
Thanks to a super helpful TortDeform reader for alerting me to this article, which speaks to the small business interest in preserving a strong civil justice system. The article serves as a good “part two” to yesterday’s blog on the importance of civil justice from a business perspective.
It points out that, despite being pitted against consumers by tort “reform” people, small businesses actually often find themselves on the plaintiff’s side of the courtroom against larger corporations. Tort “reformers” are silent about small business needs in such instances, but when lawsuits come up in which small businesses are defendants, tort “reformers” quickly take them up as the “poster child” of the movement. Whether you want to call it opportunisitic, tactical, or something else, the article challenges the reasoning behind such alliances and specifically references those dear old pants that generated so much attention last month. Click Here to Read It!
Posted at 5:13 PM, Jul 11, 2007 in Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Interesting quotes from the article.
"Small businesses simply can't afford to have the specter of a lawsuit hanging over them," says Gary Palmquist, legislative affairs manager for the National Federation of Independent Business. "Oftentimes even responding to one lawsuit can bankrupt a small business."
"It's clear small businesses could benefit from policy changes that lower the cost of liability insurance."
"What would benefit small-business owners and the public interest in general is to crack down on attorneys that are filing groundless lawsuits and to have meaningful penalties."
I'm glad to see Kia Franklin and the Drum Major Institute get behind the importance of tort reform for small business.
Posted by: Ted Frank | July 12, 2007 09:01 AM
The quote by the American Independent Business Alliance spokesperson nails it: the strategy of corporate front groups like the US Chamber is based on using small business owners to serve the interests of the large corporations they actually represent. Civil justice defenders have failed to pull the curtain down on this tactic, so it's encouraging to see groups actually representing small biz stepping up.
Posted by: Eric | July 12, 2007 03:14 PM