[OESY]

Lex et Veritas

[Dante3]

I jsut see the lawusits as socialism -- taking from the richer (who often are in no way responsible) and giving it to the poorer who also lack in ethics and are willing to extort anyone.

[longtermmemmory]

There is a PI law firm in town that is quite proud of the fact that three of its members have "ascended" to the bench.

[CatoRenasci]

Bump for judical responsibility.

The abdication of responsibility by judges is just a symptom of the larger refusal in society to accept responsibility for our own actions, the most egregious of which are the various 'zero tolerance' policies which defy common sense.

[inquest]

I have to wonder whether this guy's cure is worse than the disease. He wants the judges to consider the "social" impacts of their rulings and not just regard it as a case between two litigants. Sorry, not buying it. "Social" impacts are the concern of legislatures, not judges. The purpose of a court is to apply the law as written, and beyond that, simply to do what's necessary to render fair and impartial justice to those who come before it. They are not, and must not ever be, policy-making centers.

The reason lawsuits are out of control is very simple - legislation has made it that way. "Pain & suffering", "wrongful death", "punitive damages" and many other modern doctrines, are creations of statutory law. There's nothing wrong with making wrongdoers pay extra for the harm they cause to others, but all moneys above and beyond purely economic damages to the plaintiff should go into the public treasury, not to the plaintiff. The plaintiff should only receive what's necessary to defray whatever expenses were incurred by the defendant's action. That will cut way down on the profit motive for predatory lawsuits.