The Cookie Monster will get you

[sArA]

If I had been the judge, I would have awarded the girls damages for their suffering. It is horrible to do something nice and have it thrown in your face.

The sort of person who brings a lawsuit in these circumstances should be punished so that silly, money grabbing, mean spirited killjoys don't get to make the world a worse place for everyone and nice people can be nice.

Of course, I don't know the whole situation and so my personal judgement remains based purely on my superficial interpretation of the events.

[Cheese]

Maybe some of the "cursing and drinking" teenagers could give her house a good egging?

[j2k4]

Kerry /Edwards had a plan where the lawyers would be held responsible for bringing frivolous lawsuits....3 strikes and they lose their license....

The very concept is laughable, vid.

One of the biggest tort lawyers in America (Edwards), signing on to that?

My guess is that this was one of Kerry's campaign utterances or possibly one of the superficial blurbs from his website.

If the legal lobby had the slightest idea that such a plan would ever have seen the light of day, Kerry/Edwards would have been a non-starter.

[vidcc]

The very concept is laughable, vid.

One of the biggest tort lawyers in America (Edwards), signing on to that?

My guess is that this was one of Kerry's campaign utterances or possibly one of the superficial blurbs from his website.

If the legal lobby had the slightest idea that such a plan would ever have seen the light of day, Kerry/Edwards would have been a non-starter.

Ah so it was that you just didn't believe them...not that you disagree with the idea?...

Tell me, do you think the idea would work better than caps if it was actually implemented?

The Bush strategy penalises the genuine cases and makes it possible for companies to do "cost assessment" when making policy on safety..... It should never be the case where it it cheaper to risk the health and safety of others.

I do however find it funny that bush says people don't want large payments when it is in fact "the people" in the form of the jury that hand them out.

Before you think I am for frivolous lawsuits, I am not....I just don't think that capping payouts for genuine cases will solve it...and I certainly won't hold my breath waiting for my insurance bill to go down if the bush plan is implemented.
The Bush plan would not stop frivolous cases reaching the courts....and it certainly wouldn't have prevented this one

[hobbes]

I think he was pointing out that the actions of Edwards trump some vague campaign promise.

Edwards won his cases on cerebral palsy based on winning over the emotions of the jury rather than the scientific evidence.



@Biggles,

Knocking on a neighbors door at 10:30 PM, particularly if you don't know them well, is a bit out of line. 8:00 or 8:30, particularly when the sun is down, is probably as late as you want to be, unless you had called in advance.

If someone came banging on my door at 10:30, I would be quite startled. I would assume that some emergency had come up and be expecting the worst.

[hobbes]

The Bush strategy penalises the genuine cases and makes it possible for companies to do "cost assessment" when making policy on safety..... It should never be the case where it it cheaper to risk the health and safety of others.

I do however find it funny that bush says people don't want large payments when it is in fact "the people" in the form of the jury that hand them out.

Vidcc,

If we look at the drug Vioxx for example, it was approved by the FDA. The drug allowed many people crippled with arthritis to function again. The drug was so effective that everyone started taking it. Given the sheer number of people taking the drug, a very small subset developed side effects not discovered in clinical trials.

Instead of using this information to screen people at risk for complications and continue using this excellent drug, the company just pulled it of the market.

Why? Fear of additional lawsuits.

This is one of many examples where lawyers are taking good drugs and products away from patients, just because a few get side effects.

To put this in perspective, there is a small percentage of people out there that go into cardiac arrest when they take aspirin, a small percentage of children can get liver damage from aspirin. Should aspirin be considered a bad drug and taken from the market. No, it is a great drug, we just need to alert people who have risk factors for side effects.

But the legal climate today makes drug companies yank their products if anything goes wrong for fear of litigation.

In this situation, lawyers are looking to make an easy buck, AND they are hurting the 99% who were experiencing relief from a drug.

In such cases, the trial lawyer looks all doe-eyed at the jury and talks about Mr. Johnstons stroke, his poor widow, what is to become of her. Who can help here through these tough times. He says, "'I have to tell you right now -- I didn't plan to talk about this -- right now I feel him, I feel his presence, inside me and he's talking to you ... And this is what he says to you. He says, 'I don't ask for your pity. What I ask for is your strength. And I don't ask for your sympathy, but I do ask for your courage."(modified John Edwards speech).

The jury is made of people and they look at the poor little widow, they see a rich faceless suit-represented corporation and they vote with their hearts not with their minds.

Lawyers are teh suxxor.

Capping lawsuits will prevent those crazy settlements.

1 part partial answer, 1 part rant

[vidcc]

@hobbes
I am very aware of the many factors involved and that each case is different, that is why , class actions aside, each individual case is treated on it's individual merit.
The question is asked..... is the harm a result of negligent or intentional actions?.
You may say that the lawyers use emotions to win the case but then obviously they are doing their job and the defense lawyers are not.

Vioxx is an extreme case and in cases such as that the judge should have the right to use discretion in controlling the pay outs....not have a maximum.

But to the bit of my post you "bolded", I don't think vioxx fell into that category pre the dangers being discovered. Cost assesment is where a company KNOWS of the risk but it would be cheaper to take it and risk payouts than preventing the risk.... this has happened in the past

That said do you think that a cap of a quarter of a million would stop frivolous lawsuits?

[j2k4]

Since Hobbes beat me to it, I will recount a personal story.

I have a distant cousin living near Detroit-his prospective brother-in-law and wife had just been blessed with their first child (a girl, 6 months-old, or so) when they were killed in an automobile accident, orphaning the child.

Family (another brother, I believe) took the child in and instituted a suit against the offending party on "behalf" of the child.

Though the other driver was at fault, there was no determination of reckless or careless vehicle operation, nor was alcohol a factor.

The jury awarded the child 38 million dollars, if memory serves.

The case was surely not trivial or frivolous, but....38 million?

The brother who took the child in is living very comfortably indeed.

[Biggles]

I think he was pointing out that the actions of Edwards trump some vague campaign promise.

Edwards won his cases on cerebral palsy based on winning over the emotions of the jury rather than the scientific evidence.



@Biggles,

Knocking on a neighbors door at 10:30 PM, particularly if you don't know them well, is a bit out of line. 8:00 or 8:30, particularly when the sun is down, is probably as late as you want to be, unless you had called in advance.

If someone came banging on my door at 10:30, I would be quite startled. I would assume that some emergency had come up and be expecting the worst.

Hobbes

Fair point, 10.30 is not late to be out, but is perhaps on the late side to knock on a door. However, given it was a friendly act (unless their cookies are vile) I would still contend the reaction was bizarre verging on the theatrical and the legal action a total waste of court time.

However, muchs depends on the community. I have stayed in small communities where noone locks their doors and people open doors and leave stuff without a second thought. Presumably there are parts of LA where this would not be practical. The piece suggested this area did not fall into the latter camp - but I for all I know it might be akin to Fallujah. In which case the girls should not have been out delivering cookies.

[vidcc]

J2

I asked you a specific question which you did not answer.

Do you think if implemented the kerry proposal would or would not limit frivolous lawsuits better than capping. Keep in mind that Bush is touting caps to prevent frivolous lawsuits as a means to lower health costs. I have yet to see him talk tort reform without using the word frivolous

Personally I feel that payments and costs resultant of frivolous lawsuits overshadow the limited number of extra ordinary payouts in legitimate lawsuits