Posted on 07/08/2004 6:28:17 AM PDT by OESY
Talk about good timing. John Edwards's promotion to the national Democratic ticket is raising the profile of legal reform just as he and his Senate colleagues are facing a showdown this week on reining in class-action lawsuits.
This is a debate worth watching, not least because the Senate is so close to a bipartisan breakthrough. The GOP has been rolling this stone up Capitol Hill since 1998, and the House has passed it no fewer than three times. But it has always rolled back down in the Senate, where Democrats and trial lawyers need only 40 votes to filibuster any tort reform.
The news is that this time, thanks to the quiet lobbying of Democrats Tom Carper (Delaware) and Herbert Kohl (Wisconsin), proponents think they've got 11 Democratic votes for a total of 62. Or at least they do if there aren't any last-minute shenanigans.
The political momentum has grown behind this reform because class actions have so clearly been abused. Creative attorneys round up plaintiffs from across the country and then file suit in a handful of jurisdictions known for their tort-friendly judges, juries and laws. This "forum shopping" both rigs trials in favor of plaintiffs and allows state judges to make national regulatory policy with their rulings.
Worse, the only real beneficiaries are the lawyers, who often walk away with millions in fees while their clients get next to nothing. In one (all too typical) mortgage escrow suit in Alabama against that famous Southern institution, the Bank of Boston, 700,000 plaintiffs "won" payments of a few dollars each. But about a year later they discovered that anywhere from $90 to $140 had been deducted from their meager winnings to pay the lawyers' legal fees of $8.5 million. Meanwhile, tort litigation costs U.S. businesses an estimated $130 billion annually that might otherwise be invested to create new jobs.
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Another killer strategy is to weigh the bill down with unrelated amendments, such as Ted Kennedy's minimum-wage increase. A few Republicans are also trying to load their favorite causes on one of the few legislative vehicles left in this Congress. We can understand Mr. Kennedy's goal -- kill reform -- but GOP stonewalling is especially short-sighted. If John Kerry wins in November, their chances of passing any class-action reform are probably over. With 62 votes, now is the time to strike.
Our runaway tort system is a genuine problem that is causing economic harm and, far more important, is distorting the cause of justice. American politics typically responds to such problems, but in this case the power of the tort bar centered on the Democratic Senators has blocked even the most modest fixes. If even this compromise class-action reform fails this year, we'll know for sure that the issue deserves to be joined in this Presidential campaign.
BUMP
The pundits should also invoke the name of Elliott Spitzer while they discuss business costs. This guy masquerades as a champion for the "little people" while his real motive is to kill capitalism or that goose that lays the golden eggs. The Dems trotted him out last night on CBS's 60 Minutes and painted him in a white light while they fawned. It looks to me that Kerry arranged the introduction of his potential U.S. Attorney General.
The pundits should commence the attacks immediately if not sooner. This Spitzer guy scares the crap out of me.
I am reminded of a sermon I once heard of in a Baptist churh here in TX. The Pastor made a freudian slip, he said that Satan was the father of all lawyers (he meant to say liars). No one in the congregation called him on it, in fact he got a considerable number of Amen Brother's on it.
PS I kerrying hate lawyers.
Not all of us are sleazy b@stards like John Edwards and his ilk. Some of us actually try to keep people out of trouble by having them arrange to stay out of trouble before trouble arises. I, for example, do estate and business planning, as well as asset protection for those in high-risk professions. I am an anti-ambulance chaser, hoping to deny them business by short-circuiting a lawsuit before it even arises.
Please don't paint all lawyers with the broad brush that you have. You know all about what a few rotten apples can do to the whole barrel.
In the same vein, I once saw a T-shirt that said "First we kill all the lawyers (except mine)...." It is other people's lawyers that you have to watch out for - yours should be in your corner.
Back to the article, Tom Carper is my favorite Democrat. It's too bad he isn't ambitious for higher office. He is no Zell Miller conservative, but he is a very pro-business Democrat. Delaware is the legal home of most big U.S. banks, and they have all been victimized by the class action bar. Carper understands this. He will not cave to the party on this issue.
A different aspect of this matter was discussed at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1167190/posts
"Action on the bill effectively stopped when Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., put up barriers to all amendments after he failed to reach agreement with Democrats on which ones would be allowed.
Democrats are demanding a vote on raising the minimum wage from the $5.15 an hour to $7 over the next few years. They also want a vote on fighting global warming and on extending an assault weapon ban that is to expire this year."
Gee, no amendments - that's SUCH a shame (NOT!). Buh bye, DiFi!
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