Bill,
Re: "(we both know you're a liberal)"
Let's check that out on a couple of issues. <g> I'll give you my opinion and you put the label on. I would also be interested in your opinion on the issue and for that matter if you know what GW's position is (trying to be on topic). This one comes out of Congress, so I might think it is "conservative", but while Bennet (R) was chair, Dodson (D) was vice-chair.
Issue 1 of 2 (two issues)
Y2K Litigation:
There is a proposed bill that came out of House/Senate Conference that deals with limiting corporate liability with respect to Y2K problems. {I assume you have Acrobat Reader available)
senate.gov
Some historical background for my opinion....
In the early 1800's the courts were "flooded" with civil suits and the government considered changing the system (A point that may be of interest is that on a per capita basis there were more civil suits in the 1800's then there were today). They considered a number of changes, anywhere from fixed fees for attorneys to the plantiff paying attorney fees of the defendant when the suit failed. The Congress at that time also took a little tour of Europe to examine the civil litigation systems there. In the end, the Congress (still pretty much the framers) decided to leave the system alone. The primary principle was that the system that was in place was the only system that allowed the citizen equal access to the courts; any change would, in practice, limit access to only the most wealthy.
Further, there is a legal system in place to deal with liability issues that is in the Judicial Branch. The framers were interested in separate branches and certainly provided no particular provisions for modification of the processes of the court. The court/jury was designed to determine the liability not the Congress nor the Executive.
So my opinion (pretty obvious by now) is that I believe that the legislation is ill-conceived, Congress has no business passing yet another law and I oppose it. The benefit or loss with respect to trial lawyers is of little to no concern to me, it is the judicial process that I wish to preserve.
Looking forward to your thoughts on the subject and quite curious as to the label.
Best Regards,
Jim |
