http://www.tortdeform.com/ en Copyright 2012 Sun, 20 May 2012 18:13:41 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.37 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Justinian Lane http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2012/05/the_politics_behind_tort_refor.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2012/05/the_politics_behind_tort_refor.html Sun, 20 May 2012 18:13:41 -0500 Justinian Lane http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/02/the_value_of_a_human_life_and.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/02/the_value_of_a_human_life_and.html Damage Caps Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:58:23 -0500 Justinian Lane http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/02/business_litigation_vs_malprac.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/02/business_litigation_vs_malprac.html Business Culture Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:19:48 -0500 Justinian Lane http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/02/great_oped_on_malpractice_refo.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/02/great_oped_on_malpractice_refo.html Medical Malpractice Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:15:22 -0500 Justinian Lane http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/01/no_jobs_in_ohio_after_tort_ref.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/01/no_jobs_in_ohio_after_tort_ref.html News Sat, 15 Jan 2011 14:14:40 -0500 Justinian Lane Continuing the “2011 will be a bad year for civil justice” theme: The Senate judiciary committee voted 3-2 on Friday to cap punitive damages at $200,000 or twice the amount of compensatory damages, whichever is greater. Current state law does not lay out any caps on punitive damages. Source: Wis. GOP caps punitive damages in tort reform bill - WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News Capping punitive damages at $200k will only encourage corporations to sell profitable but defective products.  If it weren’t for punitive damage awards well in excess of $200k, Johns Manville might still be pumping out asbestos products. I don’t understand Republican ideology.  On one hand, most of them support the death penalty.  But on the other hand, they don’t like punitive damages.  How can you rationalize putting a man to death for committing a crime, but not allowing the family of his victims to take more than $200k? http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/01/wisconsin_may_cap_punitive_dam.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/01/wisconsin_may_cap_punitive_dam.html News Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:29:36 -0500 Justinian Lane Here’s a hypothetical for you.  Imagine that a guy is incredibly drunk – say twice the legal limit.  He gets in his car to start it up, and as soon as he turns the key, a defectively-designed fuel pump ignites the gas tank.  The car blows up, and kills him instantly.  The exact same result would have happened to a sober person.  Should the jury hear evidence that the guy was drunk?  No.  The reason why is that the driver’s intoxication has no bearing upon whether or not the fuel pump was defectively-designed. At the behest of the auto industry, Florida is trying to pass a bill that will allow irrelevant evidence in automotive defect lawsuits: The bill specifically boosts protections for automakers by allowing them to present more evidence when they are sued for product defects that result in enhanced injury following a crash. Florida is among a handful of states that consider a crash -- and any fault of the driver in that crash -- unrelated and irrelevant to injuries caused by defective parts or design. In 2001, the Florida Supreme Court ruled against Ford, saying manufacturers could be held solely liable for design defects that enhanced the injury suffered in a crash, regardless of who was at fault in the crash itself. The court's rationale for excluding evidence of the driver's fault in causing an accident is that the accident-causing fault is not relevant to whether an automobile manufacturer designed a defective product. Source: Year's First Major Tort Bill Sails in Senate Judiciary | Sunshine State News “Enhanced injury cases” are those in which a defectively designed part did not cause the crash, but increased the injuries sustained in the crash.  And whether the driver was drunk, speeding, or otherwise driving irresponsibly shouldn’t be admissible in determining whether the part was defectively designed. My prediction: This bill will easily pass, and will be described as bringing “fairness” and “common sense” back to the Florida tort system.  It’s only January, but I’m confident this will be the worst year for the civil justice system since the bloodbath that was 1986-1987. http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/01/florida_wants_to_allow_irrelev.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/01/florida_wants_to_allow_irrelev.html Product Liability Thu, 13 Jan 2011 10:28:22 -0500 Justinian Lane 2011 is already shaping up to be a horrible year for the civil justice system.  The Republican takeover of many state legislatures means we’re going to see a slew of tort “reform” measures that limit the rights of injured citizens and pass on the cost of negligent corporations onto taxpayers.  This, from Wisconsin: The far-reaching lawsuit reform proposal would make it more difficult for those bringing lawsuits to prove they were injured by a company's product and to collect damages. Walker said it would protect retailers from liability for defects caused by manufacturers and distributers. It would also limit liability to products manufactured and sold within 25 years of an injury and make it easier for someone to be sanctioned for bringing a frivolous lawsuit. * * * * The Wisconsin Defense Counsel, which represents 450 defense attorneys, said passing the reforms would send a signal to the rest of the country that Wisconsin is serious about attracting new businesses and adding jobs. The Wisconsin Economic Development Association, which works to promote businesses in the state, also praised Walker's proposal. Source: Walker's civil lawsuit reforms draw split reaction - Bloomberg There are other proposals in other states.  And of course, the House of Representatives wants to repeal the healthcare act and replace it with laws that don’t let people sue negligent doctors.  Because for some reason, it’s important to keep inept doctors practicing medicine.  The Tea Party movement could be a wild card.  Recall that Sarah Palin said she did not agree with the Supreme Court’s decision to limit punitive damages in the Exxon Valdez case.  And the wording of the 7th Amendment is pretty clear in its declaration that injured citizens have a right to a jury trial.  So maybe the Tea Partiers won’t support laws that curtail our right to sue.  But I doubt it. Let’s hope I’m wrong. http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/01/2011_looking_like_a_bad_year_f.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2011/01/2011_looking_like_a_bad_year_f.html News Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:46:59 -0500 Justinian Lane “Defensive medicine” is the name given to tests that doctors run more out of fear of being sued than out of concern for their patients.  The poster-child of the “defensive medicine” argument is the CT scan.  We’re told by “reformers” that these tests are expensive and unnecessary.  (The “reform” crowd doesn’t tell us that many doctors have a financial interest in the facilities that own CT scan machines, meaning the more tests the doctors order, the more money they make.  But that’s for another day.)  Here’s some interesting food for thought about whether the tests are truly unnecessary: WASHINGTON — Annual CT scans of current and former heavy smokers reduced their risk of death from lung cancer by 20 percent, a huge government-financed study has found. Even more surprising, the scans seem to reduce the risks of death from other causes as well, suggesting that the scans could be catching other illnesses. The findings represent an enormous advance in cancer detection that could potentially save thousands of lives annually, although at considerable expense. Lung cancer will claim about 157,000 lives this year, more than the deaths from colorectal, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers combined. Most patients discover their disease too late for treatment, and 85 percent die from it. * * * * The study found that for every 300 people who were screened, one person lived who would otherwise have died during the study. But one-quarter of those given CT scans were found to have anomalies, nearly all of which were benign. These false signals generally led to more worry, more CT scans and sometimes to lung biopsies and thoracic surgery. Source: Lung Cancer Deaths Reduced by CT Scans, Study Finds - NYTimes.com If 1 out of 300 lives were saved in this study, it’s reasonable to assume that at least some lives are saved when “unnecessary” CT scans are run.  I’m still waiting for a survey or study to determine how many doctors changed their diagnosis based upon a test they felt was unnecessary but ordered merely to play CYA. http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/11/how_many_lives_has_defensive_m.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/11/how_many_lives_has_defensive_m.html Medical Malpractice Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:41:05 -0500 Justinian Lane Nothing better illustrates the profound inequity of capping noneconomic damages than the verdicts against file sharers: Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the Minnesota woman who has been fighting the recording industry over 24 songs she illegally downloaded and shared online four years ago, has lost another round in court. A jury in Minneapolis decided today that she was liable for $1.5 million in copyright infringement damages to Capitol Records, or $62,500 for each song she illegally shared in April 2006. Source: Jammie Thomas hit with $1.5 million verdict | Digital Media - CNET News You tell me why a record label (who can’t prove actual damages) should be awarded seven figures, but a person put in a wheelchair for life should only receive $250k.  http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/11/15_million_dollars_for_sharing.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/11/15_million_dollars_for_sharing.html Damage Caps Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:02:21 -0500 Justinian Lane And some people still believe that a drug is “safe and effective” if the FDA says so. In the past month, the Food and Drug Administration has concluded that in some cases two types of drugs that were supposed to be preventing serious medical problems were, in fact, causing them.  Source: News Analysis - When Avandia and Other Drugs Cause Problems They Are Supposed to Prevent - NYTimes.com http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/10/cure_causewhats_the_difference.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/10/cure_causewhats_the_difference.html FDA Sun, 17 Oct 2010 20:41:14 -0500 Justinian Lane http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/10/tom_donahue_hypocrite_serial_p.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/10/tom_donahue_hypocrite_serial_p.html Hypocrites of Tort "Reform" Thu, 14 Oct 2010 11:08:33 -0500 Justinian Lane http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/10/a_medical_malpractice_testimon.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/10/a_medical_malpractice_testimon.html Medical Malpractice Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:38:48 -0500 Justinian Lane http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/10/where_is_the_concern_for_the_p.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/10/where_is_the_concern_for_the_p.html Medical Malpractice Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:35:41 -0500 Justinian Lane http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/09/contradictory_evidence_regardi.html http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2010/09/contradictory_evidence_regardi.html Medical Malpractice Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:23:12 -0500