PROTECT CONSUMER JUSTICE.ORG

A report from the non-profit watchdog group Texas Watch says “tort reform” there has changed the state’s legal system so that it “perverts the rule of law into an instrument for the moneyed and powerful, as well as divorces it from any concept of justice.”

We all know that old Mark Twain saying that “figures don’t lie, but liars figure.” Was he envisioning the Chambers ILR as he penned that enduring insight?

Voir Dire is taking a little hiatus. Meanwhile, we leave you with an appropriate Warren Zevon song….

Under the federal Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997, the most Metrolink and Connex Railroad, which had been contracted to operate Metrolink’s trains, can be liable for in damages is $200 million — which, in fact, the two entities told a judge Wednesday they are willing to pay to settle the outstanding claims from the deadly crash.

Only the naive believe corporations operate with the public good in mind. And it’s lawyers with access to the courts that keep them (somewhat) honest.

No, the Archives of Internal Medicine survey did not find that 91% of doctors run unnecessary tests for fear of being sued. Nor did a Harvard School of Public Health study show an overabundance of frivolous malpractice suits.

Huffington Post: University of Texas law professor Charles M. Silver thinks the compensation funds for victims of 9/11 and the gulf oil catastrophe are fine, but wonders how much further such an approach should extend.