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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (363000)	2/24/2003 4:16:00 PM
From: Thomas A Watson	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769670

Lawsuit Lunacy Hits Your Wallet You have this awful feeling - that frivolous lawsuits and outrageous jury awards are so commonplace that they are out of control and harmful to the economy - and the numbers now prove that you're correct. Insurance consulting firm Tillinghast-Towers Perrin has just released the latest figures on the tort-uous goings on in America's courtrooms. Tort costs now represent almost two and a half percent of the entire U.S. gross domestic product. In other words, 2.5% of what we produce in this country is ... legal fees. 2.5% of our GDP is actually a cost, and not a benefit. Tobacco settlements, asbestos litigation, toxic mold liability, investor loss class actions and now suits arguing liability over obesity are all contributing to the hellish fees and awards. And they are costing us all a pretty penny. The cost per U.S. citizen of litigation and associated fees and awards was $87 per citizen in 1950. By 2001 it was a staggering $721 for every man woman and child in America. Worse, experts are suggesting that with the new efforts to blame others for one's obesity, medical malpractice cases and suits charging corporate malfeasance, the cost per person could go to $1000 in just two more years. Businesses are complaining that they cannot afford the massive awards, nor can they afford the rising costs of healthcare that have come about, in part, because of malpractice suits and multimillion dollar judgments against doctors and their insurance companies. In fact, recent strikes by doctors and surgeons have brought tort reform to the forefront of the national debate. Democrats, who have long benefited from donations by trial lawyers, and who have protected the trial lawyers for years - are thinking that maybe there needs to be some sort of legislation to cap the amounts of jury awards, because it is putting health care providers out of business. Even über-lefty Dianne Feinstein agrees with President Bush that punitive awards need to have a $250,000 ceiling, which could decrease health care costs to Americans by $60 billion a year. The Trial Lawyers of America is against the idea, of course, but there will be a showdown in the legislative branch over tort reform in 2003 regardless. Just what, if anything, gets reformed, is up to your representatives. newsmax.com