Posted on 03/29/2007 6:44:51 AM PDT by mborman
Economists have long understood that America's tort system acts as a serious drag on our nation's economy. Although many excellent studies have been conducted, no single work has fully captured the true total costs, both static and dynamic, of excessive litigation.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
why would any state reduce torts when some states have a punitive damage tax? (the state gets a piece of the punative damage portion of the award)
Oops -- same title and publisher but the posted article is different.
I like the British system. If you sue someone and lose, you have to pay all of their expenses associated with them defending themselves. I have a friend who owns a successful craft business and was sued for an absurd product liability issue. She spent over $300,000 plus months of her time defending herself and was found not guilty. The cost to the plaintiff for bringing a totally bogus case to court: zero...nada...zilch. Things like this are a crap-shoot for the plaintiff. All they have to do is find a lawyer who thinks he can convince a jury he's right. This is just plain wrong.
This cost is made up of a combination of direct costs -
money taken from the pockets of producers, and put into the pockets of leeches lawyers;
and indirect costs, non-productive actions people take to protect against the chance of baseless lawsuits, like unnecessary extra diagnostic procedures in a doctor's office.
So Shakespeare was right after all.
So "magnet court" and "magic jurisdiction" are simply other ways to say "den of thieves." I will remember that the next time someone talks in hushed and reverent tones about the jury system.
Do you suppose that a President John Edwards would do anything to clean up this mess?
Does that figure include the costs of liability insurance, such as property, auto and malpractice insurance? If so it may be overstating things a bit.
Totally different article from four year ago. Read. Post.
He's the grinning fool (usually photographed being touched and founded by the swift boat veteran with three puple hearts) who is in the ranks of those who have ruined the country.
Thompson is a lawyer, but he would be a better president than most of the other candidates, save Tancredo.
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