Comments on: Tort Stories or Tall Tails?

By: David M. Manes

David M. Manes — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:53:52 +0000

To add one more thing: I have read that a lot of the complaints stem from the mere fact that these “frivolous” lawsuits are filed in the first place (admitting that they typically never make it to trial or favorable judgement). But how do you stop that from happening? We already have checks that prevent the real damage of an unjustified judgement, and we even have official and unofficial penalties for attorneys who file frivolous lawsuits. How much more could be done by statute to “fix” this problem? I really don’t know, but I have a feeling that the tort reform lobby relies on mass ignorance to gain traction.

By: krjohns

krjohns — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:23:02 +0000

Yeah, it’s finals time. I only have the time to think about law.

By: S.C. Denney

S.C. Denney — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:25:52 +0000

Say there are a few outstanding exceptions; should the entire tort system be tweaked to cover a few extra bases? Is there such a thing as a completely inerrant judicial system?

By: David M. Manes

David M. Manes — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:12:01 +0000

I even tried to disprove my own challenge by finding cases that got through all of the institutional legal checks, and I couldn’t do it.

Oh, I found lots of sites that furiously advocate tort reform, but all of the example cases they listed were news stories that broke when the sensationalist cases were first filed. I haven’t found one yet that made it to trial and where the defendant actually paid the plaintiff real money for some absurd claim. That case might still be out there somewhere, but I evidently underestimated how rare such cases were.

By: David M. Manes

David M. Manes — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:07:32 +0000

I thought you might come out of the woodwork again if I posted something legally relevant, Kyle.

By: krjohns

krjohns — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:35:54 +0000

For more about the check on the attorneys, I would recommend that you look at Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 11. Rule 11 allows judges to sanction attorneys who bring frivolous claims personally and require them to pay out of their own pocket the opposing sides attorney’s fees for having to defend a frivolous suit. Additionally, in BMW v. Gore and State Farm v. Campbell, the Sup. Ct. has held that excessive punitive damages are violative of due process. Punitive damages are where most of the money in large suits like those listed come from. There is, of course, no limit on compensatory damages.