The Negative Impact of Tort Reform

Most tort reform acts could increase injury rates among Americans. Tort law was originally developed specifically to decrease injury rates by holding the responsible party legally liable.

2010-11-04

November 04, 2010 (Press-News.org) The View From Our South Florida Personal Injury Law Firm

"Tort law" is the legal term for personal injury law. Tort law is the body of law that dictates what obligations a person has when he or she causes injury to another person. Tort liability has two primary functions within our civil legal system:
- To encourage individuals and companies to act with special care when their actions may affect the safety of another person, by making carelessness punishable by payments to the injured person
- To provide a measure of justice for a person injured through no fault of his or her own, in the form of financial compensation from the responsible person or company

What Is Tort Reform?

Tort reform occurs when the legislature passes a law or a court issues a ruling that limits in some way the rights of an injured person to seek compensation -- via a personal injury lawsuit -- from the person who caused the accident. For example, in 1996 the United States Supreme Court engaged in tort reform when it ruled that excessively high punitive damages violate the substantive due process clause of the Constitution.

Closer to home, the Florida legislature engaged in tort reform in 2003, when it passed a law limiting the amount of financial compensation that medical malpractice victims can seek.

Legislatures around the country have engaged in all types of tort reform. Some common types of tort reform include shortening the time frames within which an injured person must file a lawsuit; making it more difficult for an injured person to get a trial by jury; and limiting attorneys' fees in tort cases.

What Are the Negative Effects of Tort Reform

Looking at the big picture, most tort reform acts have the potential to increase injury rates among Americans. Tort law was originally developed specifically to decrease injury rates by holding the responsible party legally liable.

Time and again in our nation's history, individual and class action tort cases have uncovered life-threatening hazards that otherwise would have remained undetected.
- If it wasn't economically feasible for a tort lawyer to investigate the Ford Motor Company, Ford Pintos would possibly still be exploding.
- If tort attorneys had never sued Bridgestone/Firestone, perhaps the tire company would have delayed its recall of dangerous tires.
- Tort lawyers discovered the negative health consequences of the diet drug Fen-phen and countless other prescription medications and over-the-counter remedies.

Moving from the big picture to the level of the individual who has suffered serious injury because of someone else's careless or reckless behavior -- no reliable data exists on the number of accident victims who choose not to file a lawsuit because tort reform laws obstruct their opportunity to get fair financial compensation. How many people have been driven out of work, into bankruptcy, and had their families destroyed because the American legal system did not support them when they needed financial support?

Article provided by Greenberg & Stone, P.A.
Visit us at www.sgglaw.com

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