|
 |
|
|
|
Curbing Legal System Abuses Can’t Wait Until 2005 |
|
|
|
Written On: December 31, 2003 |
|
|
|
Most pundits in our nation’s capital believe members of Congress will spend most of 2004 posturing for next November’s elections. They’re probably right, but that is not what’s best for our country.
Unfortunately, the same thing could happen here in “the other Washington.” Gov. Locke is retiring, Republicans are trying to hold onto their one seat majority in the Senate, and Democrats are working to maintain their slim control of the House. That’s a prescription for an all-out political battle that could see legislators taking partisan potshots instead of working together to get things done.
This is no time to put politics ahead of policy. We have some serious problems that need fixing now. No issue is more urgent than abuses in our legal system. They kill jobs, inflate consumer prices and insurance costs, and hurt working families, small businesses, manufacturers, schools, hospitals, and government itself.
Our congressional delegation and state lawmakers must change liability laws to curb abuses in class action, asbestos, medical malpractice, and general litigation.
For example, I know that litigation is out of control across our country when more than 60 manufacturers have declared bankruptcy because of asbestos lawsuit awards. Enterprising attorneys have successfully shopped around for favorable state courts and won hundreds of millions in judgments for people who weren’t even sick.
Who suffers when asbestos litigation is allowed to run rampant? Workers, retirees, employers, and asbestos victims. Workers and retirees lose when their employers go bankrupt and their jobs and pensions disappear. Small suppliers suffer when the companies they work with go bankrupt and can’t pay. For example, Jim Mickelson of Northwest Embroidery in Fife has a $14,000 unpaid bill from a bankrupt manufacturer.
Most importantly, legitimate asbestos victims and their families suffer when they can’t get into court because the dockets are filled with nuisance cases filed by people who aren’t even sick. One heartbreaking example is a Puget Sound Naval Shipyard worker who died of asbestos related cancer before getting his day in court. He died not knowing if his wife and family would be taken care of.
In our state, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce rated us as one of the 14 worst states in the country for medical malpractice exposure. Washington Casualty, the only company that wrote medical malpractice insurance for rural hospitals in our state, is bankrupt, and many of those hospitals may be forced to close.
Congress and our state lawmakers cannot let partisan election year maneuvering postpone lawsuit abuse reforms.
We need a repeat of what happened in 1986. At the beginning of the 1986 legislative session, political pundits in Olympia called tort reform a long-shot at best. Most thought the legislation would be pigeon-holed in the various judiciary committees. The two things they overlooked were the depth of the crisis and an unprecedented coalition of educators, doctors, hospitals, insurers, employers and local governments that beat the odds and convinced legislators to pass major liability reform legislation.
The pressure is building in Washington, D.C. and Olympia for another round of long overdue reforms. We’ve waited long enough.
|
|
|
|
