Tort Reform Legislation Scheduled for Floor Votes

[texpatriot2004]

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=55212

Chamber Calls on House to Help Stop Lawsuit Abuse; Much-Needed Tort Reform Legislation Scheduled for Floor Votes

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The U.S. Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) today called on the U.S. House of Representatives to quickly pass three critical bills that will help protect business owners from lawsuit abuse.

"The foundation of the plaintiffs' lawyers' business model seems to be frivolous litigation and lawsuits against entire industries," said ILR President Lisa Rickard. "In passing these bills, the House would throw a serious wrench in the engine driving their lawsuit machine."

The following tort reform bills are scheduled to be considered by the House in the coming weeks and represent legislative priorities for ILR:

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[gulfcoastliberal]

1. GOP war on lawyers continues full steam ahead

Will the dems sell them down the river just as they did organized labor - their two biggest campaign contribution groups? I'd bet on it. They have corporate cash now. And corporations are more important these days than workers or the attorneys who defend them.

[FloridaPat]

2. It's seems like a plot by the repubs to get rid of all the Dems money

support. Cut their funding. I think the Dems are just too stupid to figure that out.

[WildClarySage]

3. "that will help protect business owners from lawsuit abuse"

"that will strip individuals of protection from corporate abuse" is what I think they meant to say.

[GarySeven]

4. What IS a frivolous lawsuit?

In actuality, of course, it is a lawsuit that has no basis either in fact (as in a fictitious claim of liability), or asserts no legal basis for a claim - as in not fitting the legal definition of negligence or some other cause of action.

There are literally hundreds of lawsuits each year certified by the courts as frivolous and the lawyers (or, in most cases "jailhouse lawyers") cited by judges for filing them. That's how the system is supposed to work.

Of course, in the world of Republicans the term "frivolous" has no legal meaning whatsoever; it is simply a term of art used to describe any claim of liability against a business or industry, meritorious or not. Thus, a medical malpractice claim filed over a doctor removing the wrong leg is "frivolous"; A lawsuit filed by someone injured in a wreck in a defectively designed car is "frivolous," etc.

What they are trying to do, of course, is to close the courthouse doors on consumerism. The purpose of tort reform is to shut down the consumer movement that made all our food safer, our products less dangerous and automobile accidents survivable.

[johncoby2]

5. We already did this in Texas many years ago and it didnt work!!!!

Learn from Texas folks. Bush did it in Texas and we havent seen one single penny of any relief.

Tort reform is nothing more than a solar powered flashlight. It doesnt no good when you really need it.

If the Democrats allow this vote I might just get pissed off.