Posted on 07/10/2004 6:58:04 AM PDT by AlbertWang
Edited on 07/10/2004 2:15:34 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Now that a trial lawyer has been named to the Democratic ticket, I fear my friends in the Missouri Trial Lawyers Association are feeling good about themselves. This would be a mistake. The future is bleak.
In each of the last two years, the Legislature has passed a tort reform bill, and Gov. Bob Holden has vetoed it. Smart money figures Matt Blunt will be the next governor. He will not veto a tort reform bill. In fact, the call for tort reform will be a major part of his campaign. It will be part of his stump speech.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Anyway, for a lib Bill is a good guy.
Tort reform for Lawyers is like holding a cross up to a vampire. Come to think of it, a cross should work for those blood sucking lawyers also.
This is a hugely revealing article--it makes clear and loud that lawyers aren't in it for "the little guy"--lawsuits are for lawyers, not for the plaintiffs they represent.
This lawyer is admitting that he is not an officer of the court, but rather a party to the lawsuit he brings .
Prima facie--a confession of his own unethics.
Lawyers beware: After November, it'll be too late to deal
By Bill McClellan
Of the Post-Dispatch
07/09/2004
Bill McClellan
Now that a trial lawyer has been named to the Democratic ticket, I fear my friends in the Missouri Trial Lawyers Association are feeling good about themselves. This would be a mistake. The future is bleak.
In each of the last two years, the Legislature has passed a tort reform bill, and Gov. Bob Holden has vetoed it. Smart money figures Matt Blunt will be the next governor. He will not veto a tort reform bill. In fact, the call for tort reform will be a major part of his campaign. It will be part of his stump speech.
Do you know why tort reform is so popular? It's not because people like corporations. It's because people like doctors. So popular are doctors that had the Legislature passed a tort reform bill that protected only doctors, Holden might have grudgingly signed it. The Republicans did not want to risk that. They wanted medical malpractice reform as a campaign issue. So they passed a wide-ranging tort reform bill that Holden could not afford to sign without losing the trial lawyers to Claire McCaskill. The plan worked. Holden vetoed the bill, and the trial lawyers stayed with him. Which means he will probably fight off the McCaskill challenge and then lose to Blunt.
Barring something unforeseen happening, the Republicans will control the Legislature again next year. Rude Rod Jetton will be the House speaker. Forget civility. Forget reaching across the aisle to work things out. After November, it will be too late to make a deal.
That's why the trial lawyers ought to do something now. They ought to send emissaries to the medical association and work out a plan for medical malpractice reform. It should be something the two sides - doctors and lawyers - can jointly present to the Legislature.
What do the lawyers have to gain? Sweeping tort reform becomes much less likely if the unpopular corporations cannot partner up with the popular doctors. What do the doctors get? Whatever they want.
Like no more venue shopping. Malpractice lawsuits must be filed in the county in which the alleged malpractice occurred. There must be caps on damages for pain and suffering.
This brings up an interesting point. I have seen several letters to the editor and have received quite a few letters myself in which lawyers argue that Missouri already has caps. Let me quote from such a letter I received not long ago. It was written by a young woman who works for a law firm familiar to those of you who watch much television.
"Perhaps you should stick to subjects with which you have some knowledge. Missouri absolutely has caps on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases."
She goes on to call me arrogant and ignorant and so on and so forth. She sent a copy of the letter to my editor.
Does Missouri have caps? It depends, I suppose, on what the definition of "is" is. We used to have caps. We passed a law in 1986 capping damages for pain and suffering. A couple of years ago, a judge ruled that the cap could be applied multiple times in a single case. Every time an act of malpractice occurred, the cap could be applied.
Mistakes seldom occur in isolation. For instance, you should never send a letter that you have written in anger. First mistake. You should never misstate your case to a newspaper columnist so he can act like he knows more than you. Second mistake. It's bad form to send a copy of the letter to a guy's boss. Third mistake.
If I told you that my restaurant had a cap on prices, and the cap was at $20, and you came to my place and had dinner and I charged you $120 and then said, "I have a cap, but I can apply it multiple times," what would you think?
In other words, we don't have a cap. It's time the lawyers quit pretending we do. It's time they quit blaming insurance companies. It's time to make a deal, and that time is going to run out, and when it does, even a friendly vice president won't be able to help. If the lawyers are smart, they'll sue for peace.
E-mail: bmcclellan@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-340-8143
I have heard about those paragraph things, they look like a useful invention.
Thanks!
I live in St. Louis, and if McClellan is that despairing of Dem wins, that makes me feel really good.
Some time ago, a state-funded program was proposed in North Carolina. It would have provided care for all victims of cerebral palsy, not just those who hired high-priced lawyers and won the malpractice lottery. But it would have removed the ability for doctors to be sued in most cases, because it is scientifically quite clear that almost all cases of cerebral palsy have nothing to do with the doctor.
John Edwards had a chance to stand up for all the sick kids he loves to blather on about, and make sure they all had lifelong care. But he opposed this program in order to keep lining his own filthy, bulging pockets.
That's what kind of people lawyers are. Greedy, filthy scum. Total scum. Scum, scum, scum! I hate them all.
-ccm
I hear you. _g!_
If it's any consolation, have a look at Mrs. Breck Girl, if you can find a picture big enough to show all of her.
When lawyers were allowed to advertise beyond the phone books and bar referrals, lawsuits proliferated to the current explosive levels. Seeing the amount of law firms advertising class action suits makes me want to barf.
Asking a bunch of lawyers elected to the legislature (by us) to limit their potential income is a no go. In fact, lawyers write into every law the ability to litigate (profit)in most aspects of the law. This form of executive privlige is far in excess of the fat pensions and pay raises they can vote themselves every year.
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