The Real story on "Frivilous Lawsuits"
You need look no further than the corruption on Wall Street that has spun the world into today’s financial meltdown rivaling 1929 to see the importance of our right to justice in a courtroom. Now more than ever, consumers need open doors to the court house to enable us to seek justice. Marketing civil justice as “frivolous” is itself frivolous.
For years, those on Wall Street have used bogus stories about “frivolous lawsuits” as a marketing tool to create a negative impression of the civil justice system and help improve their bottom dollar. By using the myth of “frivolous lawsuits” to push for legal reform, corporate interests hope to prevent our access to a court room when they operate irresponsibly. They also have been successful in “polluting” the minds of citizens who serve on juries to create a prejudice against viable lawsuits. The truth is that there is nothing faulty or frivolous about our civil justice system. The civil justice system is the last resort for people who have been seriously wronged by the gross misconduct of the most powerful forces in America: large corporations, big pharma, polluters, medical special interests and insurance companies. It’s time you hear the real facts about our civil justice system: 1. Lawsuits are down Even our highest conservative leaders can’t deny the facts. According to Bush Administration statistics, personal injury trials in federal court are down 80% and those in state courts are down 31.8% since 1985.
In 1985, 3,600 tort trials were decided by a judge or jury in U.S. District Courts. By 2003, that number had dropped to less than 800.2
2. Verdicts are down Lawsuits aren’t the only things that are down. So are verdicts. In Pennsylvania alone, over the years 2000-2003, there were twenty five cases with verdicts over a million dollars. In 2006 there were just ten.3 Nationally, large awards in medical malpractice cases are down 56% since 1991, and punitive damages – extra awards for pain and suffering – were granted in less than1% of all civil actions began during 1991-1992, 1996 and 2001.4
3. The civil justice system is a vital tool in keeping consumers safe Taking away the ability for an individual to bring action against a negligent company allows the negligent company to continue promoting the injurious product or practice. Without a healthy civil justice system, companies would not be held accountable for their misconduct and we have already seen what happens when businesses have no one to answer to.
4. It’s not lawsuits that harm America but greedy corporate practices A study by the American Association for Justice shows that medical malpractice insurance carriers increased their net premiums by 120.2% during the period 2000-2004, although their net claims payments rose by only 5.7%. Thus, they increased their premiums by 21 times the increase in their claims payments.5 This means that while malpractice claims against doctors have remained stagnant, the companies providing malpractice insurance to them have consistently and dramatically increased the rates they’re charging these doctors. Our doctors are being cheated by the big insurance companies. It’s putting profits over people.
5. Those who know firsthand know best According to a 2006 survey by the Federal Judicial Center – the research and education agency of the federal court system – most federal judges do not see “frivolous lawsuits” as a problem.6 This comes when, over the last eight years, there is a much more conservative, pro-business federal judiciary. The New York Times studied this with a front-page story entitled “Supreme Court, Inc.”
6. Businesses themselves admit “frivolous lawsuits” aren’t a concern A 2006 study by the National Association of Manufacturers finds business leaders put “fear of litigation” at the bottom of their list of concerns.7
7. Auto-related personal injury claims are decreasing Automobile personal injury claims, which make up the majority of all injury claims, have fallen 5% since 1993 and 14% since their high in 1996.
8. There are already checks on “frivolous lawsuits” Judges are granted the authority to throw out suits they deem frivolous before the case even gets started, and they often do. They can also sanction the attorney bringing such case.
9. A Certificate of Merit is required In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court imposed a rule requiring attorneys to file a certificate of merit saying an expert is convinced the claim is meritorious before it can proceed.
10. Almost every lawsuit is legitimate According to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine – a doctor-oriented publication – almost every medical malpractice lawsuit filed in the United States has a meritorious basis.
1 "Federal Tort Trials and Verdicts, 2002-03”, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 8/17/05 2 "Civil Trial Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001”, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 4/04 3 http://www.courts.state.pa.us/Index/MedicalMalpractice/intro.asp 4 http://www.centerjd.org/error.php?page=MB_2007punitive.htm 5 http://www.justice.org/CJD_-_Med_Mal_Report_-_July_2005.pdf 6 Federal Judicial Center study, 2005, published in Business Insurance, April 11, 2005 7 Study by National Association of Manufacturers, 2006
For years, those on Wall Street have used bogus stories about “frivolous lawsuits” as a marketing tool to create a negative impression of the civil justice system and help improve their bottom dollar. By using the myth of “frivolous lawsuits” to push for legal reform, corporate interests hope to prevent our access to a court room when they operate irresponsibly. They also have been successful in “polluting” the minds of citizens who serve on juries to create a prejudice against viable lawsuits. The truth is that there is nothing faulty or frivolous about our civil justice system. The civil justice system is the last resort for people who have been seriously wronged by the gross misconduct of the most powerful forces in America: large corporations, big pharma, polluters, medical special interests and insurance companies. It’s time you hear the real facts about our civil justice system: 1. Lawsuits are down Even our highest conservative leaders can’t deny the facts. According to Bush Administration statistics, personal injury trials in federal court are down 80% and those in state courts are down 31.8% since 1985.
In 1985, 3,600 tort trials were decided by a judge or jury in U.S. District Courts. By 2003, that number had dropped to less than 800.2
2. Verdicts are down Lawsuits aren’t the only things that are down. So are verdicts. In Pennsylvania alone, over the years 2000-2003, there were twenty five cases with verdicts over a million dollars. In 2006 there were just ten.3 Nationally, large awards in medical malpractice cases are down 56% since 1991, and punitive damages – extra awards for pain and suffering – were granted in less than1% of all civil actions began during 1991-1992, 1996 and 2001.4
3. The civil justice system is a vital tool in keeping consumers safe Taking away the ability for an individual to bring action against a negligent company allows the negligent company to continue promoting the injurious product or practice. Without a healthy civil justice system, companies would not be held accountable for their misconduct and we have already seen what happens when businesses have no one to answer to.
4. It’s not lawsuits that harm America but greedy corporate practices A study by the American Association for Justice shows that medical malpractice insurance carriers increased their net premiums by 120.2% during the period 2000-2004, although their net claims payments rose by only 5.7%. Thus, they increased their premiums by 21 times the increase in their claims payments.5 This means that while malpractice claims against doctors have remained stagnant, the companies providing malpractice insurance to them have consistently and dramatically increased the rates they’re charging these doctors. Our doctors are being cheated by the big insurance companies. It’s putting profits over people.
5. Those who know firsthand know best According to a 2006 survey by the Federal Judicial Center – the research and education agency of the federal court system – most federal judges do not see “frivolous lawsuits” as a problem.6 This comes when, over the last eight years, there is a much more conservative, pro-business federal judiciary. The New York Times studied this with a front-page story entitled “Supreme Court, Inc.”
6. Businesses themselves admit “frivolous lawsuits” aren’t a concern A 2006 study by the National Association of Manufacturers finds business leaders put “fear of litigation” at the bottom of their list of concerns.7
7. Auto-related personal injury claims are decreasing Automobile personal injury claims, which make up the majority of all injury claims, have fallen 5% since 1993 and 14% since their high in 1996.
8. There are already checks on “frivolous lawsuits” Judges are granted the authority to throw out suits they deem frivolous before the case even gets started, and they often do. They can also sanction the attorney bringing such case.
9. A Certificate of Merit is required In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court imposed a rule requiring attorneys to file a certificate of merit saying an expert is convinced the claim is meritorious before it can proceed.
10. Almost every lawsuit is legitimate According to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine – a doctor-oriented publication – almost every medical malpractice lawsuit filed in the United States has a meritorious basis.
1 "Federal Tort Trials and Verdicts, 2002-03”, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 8/17/05 2 "Civil Trial Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001”, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 4/04 3 http://www.courts.state.pa.us/Index/MedicalMalpractice/intro.asp 4 http://www.centerjd.org/error.php?page=MB_2007punitive.htm 5 http://www.justice.org/CJD_-_Med_Mal_Report_-_July_2005.pdf 6 Federal Judicial Center study, 2005, published in Business Insurance, April 11, 2005 7 Study by National Association of Manufacturers, 2006
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