Tort reform Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Tort reform is a term used by people who believe that the American court system has too many frivolous civil lawsuits (a claim heavily disputed by many). A frivolous lawsuit is generally considered to be one in which there is no link between the conduct of the defendant and the injuries sustained by the plaintiff or one in which the damages awarded to the injured plaintiff are perceived to be too high for the injuries sustained. Most reforms are aimed at limiting the rights of consumers to seek compensation in the courts, placing caps on actual and punitive damages and enacting restrictions on the lawsuits that are filed. One area that has seen a number of attempts at reform is medical malpractice. For these cases, tort reform proponents, primarily malpractice insurance companies, have supported the passage of statutes that (i) cap the damages that can be recovered for such things as pain and suffering, loss of companionship, or disfigurement and (ii) make the prosecution of the cases difficult by creating a number of procedural hurdles that plaintiffs must pass to avoid the dismissal of their claims. For example, assume that a mother and father brought their nine year old daughter into the hospital so that she could have her appendix removed. During the procedure, the physician cuts the descending aorta, causing the nine year old girl to bleed to death. Even if the jury found that the doctor was negligent, the family might only be allowed to recover $250,000 because of caps on damages. Proponents argue that because nothing can bring back the child, this is a sufficient amount of money to compensate the family for the loss. Opponents argue that the jury, having all of the facts, should be permitted to decide the amount of damages that should be awarded.Tort reform is controversial and has become a major rift between the Republicans (traditionally supported by businesspeople) and Democrats (traditionally supported by lawyers). Most notably, in the 2004 presidential election, vice presidential nominee John Edwards (a successful plaintiff's lawyer) has been heavily criticized by tort reform advocates.
While supporters claim tort reformer's aims are simply to reduce frivolous lawsuits, opponents claim that the reformers real intent is to help shield businesses, primarily insurance companies, from having to pay just damages for legitimate claims. They argue that large punitive judgments in some cases are the only way to convince multi-million dollar (or billion dollar) companies to avoid future incidences of wrongful practices such as polluting, dangerous product malfunctions, reckless disregard for worker safety, etc.
Current (July 2004) reforms being considered by Congress aim to move class action lawsuits involving plaintiffs in multiple states into the Federal Judiciary System. Supporters of the measure claim that this would stop the practice of "judge shopping" by litigants. "Judge shopping" involves bringing a case to trial in a jurisdiction where the judge has a history of consistantly judging in favor of and/or delivering large settlements to plaintiffs.
The proposals advanced as "tort reform" generally do not address the issues of frivolous suits brought by businesses against competitors or against government regulation, nor do they include frivolous defenses raised in consumer actions.
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