Senate OKs Tort Reform

[dmcowen674]

U.S. Corporations can now Kill at Will:

2-18-2005 Bush to Sign Bill Curbing Lawsuits

Republicans just want to protect corporations from taking responsibility for their wrongdoing by keeping them clear of state courts that might issue multimillion-dollar verdicts against them.

"It's the final payback to the tobacco industry, to the asbestos industry, to the oil industry, to the chemical industry at the expense of ordinary families who need to be able go to court to protect their loved ones when their health has been compromised," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass. "And these people are saying that your state isn't smart enough, your jurors aren't smart enough" to hear those cases.

The bill also would limit lawyers' fees in settlements where plaintiffs get discounts on products instead of financial settlements.

 

[GoPackGo]

I am glad this passed.

It reminds me the time I got money from a class action lawsuit...the lawyers made millions...they sent me a check for $1.41

 

[dannybin1742]

the only issues i have with this are
1) tobacco lawsuits
(although i do feel that if you smoke there is no reason you should be sueing the company, its a choice) but they did spend lots of money on getting kids to smoke, so i could go either way
2) asbestos lawsuits
- this was included in this bill and it should not have been, asbestos will f-up your lungs and cause cancer, there should be no reason that people can't sue businesses over this especially large corp. that knowning did not tell their employees of the dangers, i beleive that halliburton's smaller subsidiaries have quite a few of these lawsuits going on right now


will this bring down health care costs-----NO, the problem is the insurance companies, not these lawsuits

 

[CaptnKirk]

While it does establish a 'Tort-SmackDown' on greedy lawyers - by moving the
collective action into a Federal Level Court, it works greatly in the favor of Big
Corporations, and against those few citizens that rightly deserve compensation.

What is the most striking in this 'Conservativism' is being overlooked - this is
exactly the opposite of the 'States Rights' approach that the GOP always professes
that they support. It places more juristiction into the Federal level, which will end
up resulting in the Federal Courts haveing an increased load of cases to review,
so many of those Judges will simply refuse to accept them, which defeats the
intent and purpose of litigation.

 

[alent1234]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
While it does establish a 'Tort-SmackDown' on greedy lawyers - by moving the
collective action into a Federal Level Court, it works greatly in the favor of Big
Corporations, and against those few citizens that rightly deserve compensation.

What is the most striking in this 'Conservativism' is being overlooked - this is
exactly the opposite of the 'States Rights' approach that the GOP always professes
that they support. It places more juristiction into the Federal level, which will end
up resulting in the Federal Courts haveing an increased load of cases to review,
so many of those Judges will simply refuse to accept them, which defeats the
intent and purpose of litigation.

you have no idea what states rights is. There will always be issues that need to be handled at the federal level, and a lawsuit involving tens of thousands of people from numerous states is one of them.