THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 3, 1995 TAG: 9503310010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By JEFFREY A. BREIT
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
Let's make insurance-company profits better and help corporate America produce more Dalkon Shields, flammable baby clothing and exploding trucks. Does anyone really believe that corporate America will put aside its thirst for profits out of concern for the safety and well-being of the public? There is only one reason for ``tort reform'' . . . to make more money for corporations and insurance companies. They are minting money and crying poverty at the same time. Do companies voluntarily look out for our safety even when it means less profits? No!
Let's consider the facts. Product-liability cases make up only one-third of 1 percent of the cases on our court dockets, and they are declining. Suits between businesses, however, have risen more than 200 percent. The courts are not clogged by individuals harmed by manufacturers. The most authoritative study of punitive-damage awards found that over a 25-year period, there were only 355 awards in products suits across America, and half of those awards were reduced or overturned. Hardly a crisis.
The public needs to be aware of what has been accomplished for American consumers through the use of our civil-justice system. Few people realize that in terms of product safety, our court system has triumphed where our government has dropped the regulatory ball. While the government has failed to properly regulate the manufacture and sale of dangerous products, product-liability litigation has resulted in millions of lives saved. Thanks to this check on manufacturers:
American children will not be crushed by garbage trucks backing up because all trucks in America now have beepers that signal when a vehicle is in reverse.
Bags of charcoal briquettes now contain warnings that barbecuing in one's garage or any other area without proper ventilation can be lethal.
The deadly use of asbestos has come to a halt.
Cans of Drano now contain safer flip tops to prevent explosion.
The Dalkon Shield was finally recalled.
Manufacturers of children's pajamas, the fabric of which was 100 percent untreated cotton flannelette, stopped making the highly flammable garment in 1980.
American children will no longer be crushed by garage doors that lack safety devices.
Babies will no longer be strangled because of defectively designed baby cribs.
None of these product changes were brought about as the result of government regulation. We have the tort system to thank for making each one of these products safer or getting them removed from the market. Tort reform only would allow American industry to ignore safety and quality control, thereby sacrificing the American consumer in exchange for larger profits. When the next Dalkon Shield is placed on the market, we only can hope that the tort reformists have not yet gotten their wish.
Women have been the victims of many of these product defects. Besides injuries sustained due to the use of the Dalkon Shield, women have suffered due to the manufacture of the Copper 7 intrauterine device, high-estrogen birth control pills, super-absorbent tampons, Vitek TMJ devices and silicone-gel breast implants. The A.H. Robbins Co. did not voluntarily offer to compensate the thousands of women injured by the Dalkon Shield. Such compensation came only after a jury award. Playtex removed from the market tampons linked to Toxic Shock Syndrome, strengthened its warning on other products about the association between tampons and TSS and started an awareness program to alert the public about the danger of TSS only after a jury award to the family of a woman who died from TSS.
Each of these corporate manufacturers were shown to have prior knowledge about the dangers of these products, yet they put corporate profits above the health and well-being of women. Our present product liability laws are what stopped this behavior.
At present there are laws allowing punitive damages for sexual abuse of children, reckless or malicious disclosure of HIV infection, frivolous litigation, fraud, drunken driving, drug dealing to children, hate crimes, housing-discrimination and credit and insurance violations. These laws would be set aside by the proposed federal intervention.
The threat of product-liability awards is a powerful deterrent to corporate misbehavior. Reliable studies from the Consumer Federation of America show that 6,000 deaths and millions of injuries are prevented each year because of the present deterrents in our laws. It is both tragic and ironic that the insurance industry seeks now to destroy our civil-justice system at the very moment when many nations are consciously choosing to emulate the United States and its democratic institutions.
The ultimate goal of those pushing for tort reform is to abrogate individual rights and liberties of ordinary citizens, consumers and victims. Much good has been done by the juries of the American civil-justice system and much justice has been achieved in the face of overwhelming odds. We all watch in awe when a modern-day David, armed only with a stone of justice, can bring down today's Goliaths. We shouldn't upset that gentle balance. MEMO: Mr. Breit is Virginia governor for the Association of Trial Lawyers of
America. by CNB