THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 19, 1995 TAG: 9504190002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 28 lines
No one will disagree with Jeffrey Breit (``If tort reform wins, consumers lose,'' Another View, April 3) about the irresponsibility of some manufacturers and the harm they have caused with faulty products. Tort reform will not keep attorneys from suing these companies for big bucks.
But thousands of innocent people, including small-business owners, have been ruined by lawyers who, like the greedy industrialists Breit criticizes, are driven by the enormous profits in personal-injury suits.
Under our current system, there is no incentive not to sue. After all, the defendant will have to pay for legal services whether or not the suit has validity.
Tort reform may slow the ``feeding frenzy'' of personal-injury lawyers and the huge and highly profitable industry they have become. Under a ``loser pays'' system, there would at least be an incentive not to sue.
EDWARD R. ROEHM
Virginia Beach, April 5, 1995 by CNB