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Flame war |
Posted on 07/30/2002 11:17:09 AM PDT by FreedominJesusChrist
To tell you the truth, I don't care what President Bush thinks of this subject. I have given this subject some thought and honest pondering and George W.'s support or condemnation of tort reform does not lead me to my conclusion one way or the other.
I have never heard Klayman make any statement as to whether or not he would support this type of reform, so his opinion really does not affect my conclusion either.
In regards to tort reform, it is not the legitimate authority of any legistlature, state or federal, to decide that which a judge and jury has the legitimate authority to decide.
I just asked, and my aunt says it's a Borghese color called "Scarlotto". :)
Since when has tort reform been a Democrat or Republican issue? For the most part, tort reform has come from generally neutral citizen initiative and not from the politicians' themselves.
So the legislature has no position in making the laws/rules/guidelines of justice.... very interesting....
So I guess if a jury wants to they can give you 10 years for speeding should you be found guilty.... or convict you of murder but turn you loose with just a $10 fine.... or...
The claim that propenents of "loser pays" make is not how the Founders had originally intended the Judicial Branch of government to work. Lawyers should not be held responsible (liable) for a decision that is ultimately held in a Judge's discretion. Lawyers are simply doing their job when they represent their clients and they should not be held liable for decisions that are ulimately out of their control. Lawyers cannot tell judges how to rule and therefore, lawyers should not be held liable for how our court system in America is set up.
"And believe this: it IS the job of the legislature to reel in shyster attorneys. They certainly won't police themselves."
I do not believe that it is the job of any legislature, state or federal, to "reel in shyster attorneys". This quite simply, falls under the legitimate authority of a judge and jury to decide whether or not the plaintiffs have a legitimate case and what monetary awards the plaintiffs are to be awarded, if any at all.
What business or legitimate right is it of any legislature to decide what amount of monetary awards are to be given to civilly wronged citizens? For any legislature to decide this question, would be clearly overstepping their constitutional boundaries, for these questions fall under the scope of the Judicial Branch, via a judge and jury!
You are nothing more than a parrot for Larry. And you support a crook. That's all we need to know about your morals and values. Of course you LOVE shyster lawyers!
Larry Klayman has discovered the evils of America's litigation explosion. Klayman is the chairman of Judicial Watch, the conservative ethics-in-government foundation that spent most of the 1990s suing members of the Clinton administration omnidirectionally. (West Wing fans will recognize Klayman as the prototype for Harry Claypool.) Judicial Watch's "Summary of Current Cases" includes a Who's Who of Clinton sex accusers: Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Linda Tripp, Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey, and Dolly Kyle Browning. More recently, Klayman has diversified his portfolio a bit, taking on House Majority Whip Tom DeLay over certain fund-raising practices by the National Republican Congressional Committee and Vice President Dick Cheney over the secrecy of the Bush administration's energy task force. (Chatterbox predicted that Klayman would start suing Bush, incidentally.) But Judicial Watch remains primarily interested in continuing its jihad against Bill Clinton. The first half of its 2002 "State of the Union" report, ostensibly a critique of the Bush administration, knocks the Bushies for insufficiently investigating alleged vandalism by departing Clinton White House staffers, the Clinton pardons, Hillary Clinton's alleged theft of White House furniture, and Chinagate. As Chatterbox reported earlier, Klayman recently urged Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate departing Whitewater counsel Robert Ray, whom Klayman thinks did a rush job on his final Flytrap report. In a March 15 letter, Klayman complained bitterly that Ray never got around to reading 1.8 million White House e-mails.
One may liken the overall effect of Klayman's direct-mail sermon against frivolous lawsuits to that of a Weight Watchers commercial starring Marlon Brando or a temperance lecture given by Hunter S. Thompson. Klayman, however, seems oblivious to the irony. His direct-mail solicitation explains cheerfully that Judicial Watch is filing suit "in over 100 of the worse [sic] cases of legal corruption in the country today." Klayman's aim is to recover "more than $10 BILLION in legal fees that have been paid to corrupt lawyers and law firms." (Tort reform, he explains, "is only part of the answer.") But these lawsuits to eliminate the costly scourge of litigation are expensive. "Each lawsuit we bring costs an average $1.5 million dollars," Klayman writes. "Each month we must pay the salaries of 12 outstanding attorneys." Won't you help, with a contribution of $100, $50, or $25?
In a recent (otherwise adulatory) profile by John Berlau in Insight magazine, the conservative newsweekly put out by the Washington Times, Klayman was asked the obvious question of whether he might be contributing to the litigiousness of American society. (Chatterbox tried to phone Klayman today to pose the same question but was told he was unavailable.) Here's his answer:
I agree that society is too litigious. Americans do not sufficiently sit down and try to resolve disputes. In fact, they don't even consider discussing them until you bring a lawsuit. That's our culture—and, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way you can, No. 1, get people's attention, and No. 2, get results, is to bring a lawsuit.
"Sometimes"?
First of all, no jury would decide on a sentence for a traffic ticket. LOL. These types of decisions are made at the lowest level of state courts, or what is referred to as minor courts. Most often, traffic tickets fall under the jurisdiction of traffic courts, which are usually presided over by justices of peace, magistrates, or police judges. These are courts of limited jurisdiction and these judges don't have time to have a jury trial for traffic tickets! These cases are handled informally at the bench in discussions with the judge and not a jury.
Besides your scenarios being pretty ridiculous, crimes for murder, because they are felonies, usually have mandatory minimum sentences.
And here I thought that the state & federal legislatures made the laws and the judge & jury were there to interpret and rule on the merits of a case.
Face it, the only way that people with legitimate cases are ever going to get through the courts in a fair and timely way is through tort reform. Loser pays.
The trial lawyers of America have decided our courts are their own personal playground and have made a mockery of our judicial system with their frivilous suits.
I suppose you think suing McDonalds, Wendys, Burger King & KFC is a GOOD thing? Trial lawyers trying to line their pockets.
Then they turn around and donate huge amounts of money to dem politicians so they can insure they will continue to pass legislation that favors the trial lawyers.
Shows what you know.... just let the little girl explain it to you.... LOL
Now, there's the answer to why people need to come to these threads...learn something new every single day, don't we?
Even though it may be wrong.........har.
No, let's don't.
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