September and I watched a very interesting HBO documentary this weekend that I would highly recommend to the masses. Hot Coffee covers the hot topic of Tort Reform and the impact it is having on the lives of everyday people like you and I.
Tort reform refers to proposed changes in common law civil justice systems that would reduce tort litigation or damages. Tort actions are civil common law claims first created in the English commonwealth system as a non-legislative means for compensating wrongs and harm done by one party to another's person, property or other protected interests (e.g. physical injury or reputation, under libel and slander laws). Tort reform advocates focus on personal injury common law rules in particular.
In the United States tort reform is a contentious political issue. US tort reform advocates propose, among other things, procedural limits on the ability to file claims, and capping the awards of damages. Supporters of the existing tort system, including consumer advocates, argue that reformers have mis-stated the existence of any real factual issue and criticize tort reform as disguised corporate welfare.[1], [2]
In Commonwealth countries as well as states including Texas, Georgia and California, the losing party must pay court costs of the opposing party.[3] In some countries and U.S. states, including Texas and California, the loser must also pay the opposing parties' attorneys' fees as well.
Some legal scholars propose to replace tort compensation with a social security framework that serves victims without respect to cause or fault. In 1972, New Zealand introduced the first universal no-fault insurance scheme for all accident victims, which provides benefit from the government run Accident Compensation Corporation without respect to negligence. Its goal is to achieve equality of compensation, while reducing costs of litigation. In the 1970s, Australia[4] and the United Kingdom drew up proposals for similar no-fault schemes[5] but they were later abandoned.
Basically, caps are put on the amount of damages one can be awarded from another party as a result of damages caused by the other party.
There were several interesting stories chronicled in the documentary, but the one I want to focus on here is the story of Colin, a boy born with Cerebral Palsy as a result of a doctor’s negligence before and during delivery. Colin ended up with a severe case of Cerebral Palsy and will require direct care for the rest of his life.
The parents proceeded with legal action against the doctor and were awarded 5.6 million dollars which would have allowed Colin’s family to ensure he had the required level of care needed for the rest of his life… Well as a result of Tort Reform in his state, the judge had no choice but to reduce the award to 1.2 million, which isn’t enough to ensure the level of lifelong care needed.
Come on Adam, 1.2 million is still a great deal of money; they should be able to make it on that, right?
The thing to remember about a handicap is it’s not like going into the doctor for a broken leg, having them patch it up and slowly recovering over time. The leg will eventually heal and normal function will be restored….
With a handicap, the struggles that one has will always be there, they don’t get better with time. If anything, ones struggles may become more compounded over time as a result of the normal aging process….
Now let’s take Colin’s situation…. He is severely mentally and physically handicapped. Which means he will never be able to have a career to provide for himself, he will never be able to have a family and will require one on one care for the rest of his life. When you put it like that, 1.2 million dollars is nothing…
What happens to Collin after his Mother and Father are gone, he will most likely end up in some government paid for care facility, which I’m sure is the last place any of us would want to end up.
When we start taking the power away from a jury to award what they feel is fair compensation based on the facts of a case, and give that power to lawmakers, in the form of caps on damages, we handicap the very fundamentals of our legal system…
This begs the question, is justice being served?
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