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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jttmab who wrote (23842)	12/15/2003 10:22:15 AM
From: MSI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

It isn't a determination of a specific award, it's a limit for one class of compensation - pain. Criminal sanctions can apply if there are criminal acts, and cost of care is not limited as far as I know.

To: jttmab who wrote (23842)	12/16/2003 2:47:22 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

My counter argument [question] is how can someone [legislative body] with absolutely no knowledge of any facts of the case determine better than a jury, who hears all of the facts of a case, what an appropriate award is? You make a flawed assumption here. Juries are never given "all the facts" of a case. Judges maintain a lot of discretion and there is a global body of law regarding what information must be excluded from presentation to a jury. Juries are also prone to irrationality, being unduly influenced by effective lawyering, bouts of vindictiveness, fiscal irresponsibility and other flaws. I don't find the present jury system for tort actions to be intelligently managed in the United States. I've looked into other systems, Holland's comes to mind here, where entire classes of settlements have become settled law on the basis of legislative action. In Holland, the amount of contention surrounding the awarding of pain & suffering awards has been reduced to a minimum. A much better system than the chaos and unfairness that seems to be the hallmarks of the U.S. tort system.