It was necessary to eliminate the concept of fault because if that century-old principle had been adhered to, the risk could not be as effectively spread. Social engineering has its price.It became necessary only to show that some "defect" in the product-not necessarily caused by negligence-led to the injury.
The justices achieved their social policy goals, they have spread the risk throughout society. So baseball bats, whether metal or wood, cost more. Insurance for little league teams costs more. Insurance for public playgrounds where these games are played costs more. Insurance for the store that sells the bats to the teams costs more. And on it goes. The problem is it goes on and on because whole new industries have been created as a result of this judicial do -goodism. Whole new careers for lawyers to prosecute and defend these cases and clerks in insurance companies to manage them. New fields for actuaries to assess the risks and provide conditions for insurance coverage. It was necessary to eliminate the concept of fault because if that century-old principle had been adhered to, the risk could not be as effectively spread. Social engineering has its price.
One more price for this state of affairs is that the lawyers representing this poor child who has no doubt been tragically injured, are doing precisely what has been envisioned for them to do: looking for the deep pockets. Those pockets are supposed to be insured.
So we see kids playing baseball becoming more expensive and regulations about how and where it's played becoming more and more onerous and absurd.
