Personal Injury Law

Tort Reform and the 2008 Presidential Election

By Benjamin J. Sansone, Esq.

Personal injury lawyers or trial lawyers, are one of the few if only groups that has an interest in protecting the rights of future victims of personal injury. Most people do not care deeply about tort reform or its consequences, because they are not victims or insurance companies. Until someone or their family member are seriously injured by the negligence of someone else, tort reform means nothing to most individuals, except a political talking point. The civil justice system is the only way the common individual can fight and sometimes win against multi- million dollar or multi-billion dollar corporations and insurance companies. So we have trial lawyers that fight for individuals and insurance companies that fight for tort reform, who do you think has your individual rights in mind?

For those of us that know tort reform is a major issue for the future of individual access to the justice system and to maintain that constitutional right to a trial by jury, below is a summary of the 2008 presidential candidate's positions on tort reform.

Current GOP front-runner - John McCain (R):

Directly from his website: "Pass tort reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits and excessive damage awards. Provide a safe harbor for doctors that follow clinical guidelines and adhere to patient safety protocols." (Source: www.johnmccain.com)

Mitt Romney (R):

Strong believer in national tort reform, meaning the state's do not decide, but the federal government imposes damage caps, venue restrictions, evidentiary restrictions on individual access to the justice system, and taking away issues constitutionally required for juries to decide. (Source: www.mittromney.com) Claiming companies spend more on tort claims than on R&D; assuming this rhetoric was true, then those companies should spend more money on R&D to avoid the tort claims. Fact is, tort claims bring to light defective products or negligent actions and force industries to regulate themselves.

Fred Thompson (R):

Unfortunantly dropped out, and was the only Republican that was against tort reform and his voting record in the senate was consistent with that stance.

As for the Democrats, Neither Hilary Clinton (D) or Barack Obama (D) support tort reform as they realize it is simply not needed; our jury system and current evidentiary laws do an effective job of weeding out "frivolous" lawsuits.

Full post as published by Missouri Injury Law Blog on February 05, 2008 (boomark / email).