Tort Reform = Upcoming Attacks on Edwards

[Viking12]

I just heard on the radio that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 527 is planning to run a series of attck ads on John Edwards, trial lawyers, and "excessive" lawsuit awards. I propose we build a database of evidence that refutes the distortions we're bound to see. Here's my first contribution:

Trial and Error
By Stephanie Mencimer

In January 2003, President George W. Bush gave a speech in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in which he declared that the American health care system was broken. Too many people, he said, couldn't get medical care when they needed it. The solution was "getting at the source of the problem, which are the frivolous lawsuits." The political subtext, at a time when the Democratic presidential hopefuls -- including former trial lawyer John Edwards -- were gearing up, was clear: One White House aide explained that the speech was part of "Whack John Edwards Day."

The White House has long been laying the groundwork for a campaign against the North Carolina senator, who made his fortune representing people with injury claims against doctors and corporations. Bush and other Republicans have blamed lawsuits for everything from rising health care costs to unemployment; with Edwards on the Democratic ticket, the GOP -- and its allies in the corporate world -- have dramatically turned up the volume. Treasury Secretary John Snow fired the first shot, two days after John Kerry announced his selection: "An abusive lawsuit has never created a single job, except for personal injury lawyers," he told an audience in Maine, "but baseless and excessive suits have killed many." Vice President Dick Cheney struck the same chord at a July 12 fundraiser in Pennsylvania, saying, "For the good of this economy, we need to end lawsuit abuse. Junk and frivolous lawsuits put people out of work." The Bush campaign has also unleashed a new TV ad, attacking Kerry for missing a vote "to lower health care costs by reducing frivolous lawsuits against doctors."

-snip-

That multimillion-dollar investment has turned corporate concerns about such esoteric things as "joint and several liability" into a populist crusade to "stop lawsuit abuse" and return the country to the good old days when old ladies who spilled hot coffee on themselves got sympathy, not punitive damages. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent more than $100 million over the past three years on TV ads and lobbying for legislation to restrict citizens' right to sue, a goal known as "tort reform." (In the courts, "tort" means an injury, which can include anything from libel to malpractice.) The issue is such a high priority for the Chamber that its president, Thomas J. Donohue, moved in the wake of Edwards' selection toward abandoning a longstanding policy of neutrality in presidential elections. Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, told the New York Times that businesspeople are "more frightened by than terrorists."

Yet much of the anti-lawsuit campaign is based on dubious numbers, questionable anecdotes, and, in some cases, out-and-out fiction. Consider Bush's claims of a malpractice insurance crisis in Pennsylvania. Soon after his speech, doctors marched on the Pennsylvania Capitol with placards that cried: "Need an appendectomy? Call a trial lawyer!" The Washington Post reported at least 1,100 doctors had left Pennsylvania in recent years because of rising malpractice premiums caused by lawsuits, and a Time cover story declared that nationwide, doctors were retiring because of higher premiums resulting from "multimillion-dollar judgments awarded for tragic but sometimes unavoidable outcomes."

http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2004/09/09_400.html

[radwriter0555]

1. Ken Lay bought bush's tort reform in Texas. Now we all know why, don't

we?

That's all that needs to be said.

http://americanassembler.com/newsblog/index.php?p=890

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020304&c=3&s=blakeslee

http://www.bushnews.com/enron.htm

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/enron_republican.htm