Which candidate(s) favor Tort Reform, and which are just shills for the Trial Lawyers Association?

Question

In further testament of our deranged tort system, Jeromy Jackson of West Virginia is suing McDonalds for $10 million because they put cheese on his Quarter Pounder With Cheese, even though he didn't want any.

Jackson claims to be allergic to cheese. According to the lawsuit, he "was only moments from death" after eating some cheeseburger.

Whether this parasite is laughed out of court remains to be seen. In 1992, a klutz named Stella Liebeck was awarded $3 million for spilling McDonalds coffee on herself.

Imagine how bad it will get if "the Breck Girl" John Edwards, patron saint of pathological trial lawyers, ever slithers his way into the White House. Capitalism will be sued out of existence

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292970,00.html

Answer 1

This is just another example of that liberal mindset that says no one has to take any personal responsibility for anything that they do. Unfortunately some shyster will win this moron a huge amount of money for his own stupidity.

Answer 2

The epidemic of frivilous lawsuits are blown way out of proportion. Tort reform is a smoke screen to shield corporations and other institutions of the consequences of willful bad conduct at the expense of consumer protection.

I think you owe Stella Liebeck an her an apology for calling her a klutz. Ms. Liebeck suffered third degree burns on her groin and inner thighs while trying to add sugar to her coffee at a McDonalds drive through. Third degree burns are the most serious kind of burn. McDonalds knew it had a problem. There were at least 700 previous cases of scalding coffee incidents at McDonalds before Liebeck's case. McDonalds had settled many claim before but refused Liebeck's request for $20,000 compensation, forcing the case into court. Lawyers found that McDonalds makes its coffee 30-50 degrees hotter than other restaurants, about 190 degrees. Doctors testified that it only takes 2-7 seconds to cause a third degree burn at 190 degrees. McDonalds knew its coffee was exceptionally hot but testified that they had never consulted with burn specialist. The Shriner Burn Institute had previously warned McDonalds not to serve coffee above 130 degrees. And so the jury came back with a decision- $160,000 for compensatory damages. But because McDonalds was guilty of "willful, reckless, malicious or wanton conduct" punitive damages were also applied. The jury set the award at $2.7 million. The judge then reduced the fine to less than half a million. Ms. Liebeck then settled with McDonalds for a sum reported to be much less than a half million dollars. McDonald's coffee is now sold at the same temperature as most other restaurants.

Contrary to popular belief, since 1975 the number of lawsuits has declined. Government data show that the median jury verdict for punitive damages was only $37,000, significantly less than the $65,000 median award in 1992.

Although corporate America is complaining about how lawsuits are "hurting the economy" the vast majority of lawsuits are brought by corporations, not individuals. Moreover, judges dismiss corporate lawsuits as frivolous 69% more often than the lawsuits brought by individuals.

I think that WV man who is suing McD's for $10 MM isn't going to get it - and he was offered compensation for his medical bills.

To sum up - Capitalism isn't going to be sued out of existence - and if companies will help themselves if they practice being good corporate citizens in the first place instead of fobbing off consumers with simple grievances.

And three cheers for John Edwards - who has HELPED people who were getting the end around from corporations and institutions that treated them badly and he got redress. Your ad hominem sneering demonstrates that you don't have much of an argument beyond corporate talking points and tired rhetoric.

Answer 3

Again the answer is a return to the Constitution. The basis of the Constitution is giving the power (and therefore the responsibility) to the people. McDonald's is only responsible to be sure that their food is prepared and stored in a safe manor. The should be held responsible for serving a clean safe product not for making sure that people don't eat foods that they are allergic to.

Answer 4

Oh, good, another ":objective" Fox news story. The McDonald's coffee case involved coffee so hot as to cause third degree burns. You would sue too if you got burned by something handed you.

Tort Reform is actually corporate greed protection or the malpracticing doctor's relief act. By all means, let's protect the rich from their predations on ordinary people.

Answer 5

While these sort of lawsuits might get us angry, I don't see how they affect us. Sure, we're told that it somehow gets "passed on the consumers," and "we all pay."

But if people didn't keep telling me that, I wouldn't know it, or even thinking it.

So, I guess I'm not really as scared of Edwards as I guess you are.