Every single time you hear a Republican tell you that the answer to all of our problems is tort reform, what they’re really telling you is that victims have too many rights and shouldn’t be able to sue a doctor or manufacturer for defective products, injuries, or death. They’re trying to move the liability or fault from the defendant to the victim.
It’s the whole “blame the victim” mentality that really drives me crazy.
Proponents want to say that lawsuits drive insurance rates up. This is actually not true.
Proponents don’t tell you that business insurance – something that ALL big corporations have – actually pays for this.
When I worked in lemon law / product liability for a large auto manufacturer, I saw a lot of lawsuits – but not a lot of payments to the victims. Businesses cover themselves legally by paying for something called “risk management”. They pay an insurance company, like AON Insurance, for example, to evaluate what the amount of loss or risk is in a big lawsuit. For example, what if the wheels of a vehicle came off on a freeway and killed all of the occupants. The family(ies) of the victims have the right to sue the manufacturer(s) (everyone from the auto maker to the tire companies). During the lawsuit, it will become known whether or not the manufacturer(s) knew that there was an ongoing problem or defect with their product – and were simply waiting until they needed to be forced to fix the problem before actually doing anything about it. In other words, the corporation(s) weren’t going to fix it until their hand(s) were forced by paying out punitive damages to the victims’ and their families. Insurance companies which pay out the claims are insured by something called “reinsurance” companies. An example is Zurich re-insurance. They are the real money folks who help protect giant corporations from being wiped out from such lawsuits.
And, as long as the corporations have such protections, they can continue to do business without feeling one single pinch. The only rates that will go up – or rather the only rates that SHOULD go up – are the ones between the
insurance companies and the reinsurance folks. And of course with the corporations they are protecting. The last person who should be liable for any of the high costs of lawsuits are the consumers. Least of all, the victims.
But that’s what you hear from giant corporations, anyway. They want to guilt you into feeling bad about suing them.
They’ll tell you that that corporations are being vilified. That they’re being targeted because they have deep pockets. That it’s all unfair. But the truth is, they are lazy and unwilling to fix their problems. They are negligent and know that the victims of their mistakes and negligence will go broke trying to sue them. They know that they are home free if they can simply drag a lawsuit out for decades.
Look, we all hate frivolous lawsuits. But, the next time you hear someone pushing for tort reform, remember that it’s really quite heartless.
