What is a loser pays system? Basically, it means, that when you go to court with someone, if you lose the case, you have to pay their legal fees in addition to whatever fine the court says you have to pay. As it is right now, most people dread going to court, even if they're right - because of the legal fees. This is why a lot of businesses who get sued settle outside of court - for millions. Why? Because it would cost them even MORE to pursue the case, even if they win.
America is the only Western country that has this system. Most other countries DO have the loser pays system - which is called the English Rule - and there is a lot of advocacy going on right now in our country concerning it - people want it!
This is a good passage describing WHY tort lawsuits and lawyers are hurting our economy and society. Tort, in case anyone doesn't know, means (in this case) frivilous lawsuits, or lawsuits where the plaintiff is suing for more money than seems appropriate.
In case no one wants to READ that pdf - and it's a fun read, but whatever - I'll summarize Stossel's points:
Lawsuits are a necessary evil that should be used sparingly - we are, of course, talking about civil law, not criminal law. Civil law is where an individual sues someone, criminal law is where the government sues someone for breaking the law.
In addition to loser pays, Stossel argues that some reform must be made in the legal process as wellThe adverse effects of tort lawsuits:
- Lawyers make more money than their clients - after all is said and done, no matter if you win or lose, the legal fees are just horrible. Even if you're awarded millions, you may only get a couple hundred thousand while your lawyer - being paid $500/hr - takes all your money. The question is not "Who needs all that money, anyway?" That's another debate. =P
- Higher prices - businesses lose out a lot of money, whether or not they go to court. Right now, a business could be settling for millions outside of court. What does this mean for you? Higher prices on goods.
- Loss of jobs - in addition to higher prices, businesses often have to cut down on their work force - that is, if they didn't go bankrupt. =P
- Information overload - right now, you've got a bazillion warning labels over everything - this is because of lawsuits. The problem is - do you read all of those warning labels? No. Information overload means that the IMPORTANT information is covered up by stuff that really isn't that important.
- Lawsuits are making policy, not Congress - this speaks for itself. If someone gets sued, no one else will do the same thing they did. It's making laws indirectly, and often with much higher consequences.
- Slow & unregulated legal process - in the legislative branch, we WANT a slow process. The Constitution set it up like that. The judicial process, however, does not benefit from being slow. The only ones who do benefit are the ones getting paid by the hour - the lawyers! Criminals have a right to a speedy trial; 9 months is a speedy trial in a criminal case. A couple YEARS is normal for civil law, the process is so slow. Something needs to change!
- Politicians are enamored - a lot of politicians are former lawyers or benefit in some way from politically active lawyers. They are unwilling to change the legal system because - why not? If they are getting millions in campaign money from lawyers, why the hell would they change the system?
- They threaten our protectors and inventors - there used to be 25 vaccine companies in America, before vaccine suits began to be filed. Now, there's only five. You wonder why there's shortages during flu season? This is why. You wonder why it takes so long for new vaccines to be created? This is why. Why can't teachers mark papers with red ink in California? Ha, guess why! Our teachers, our inventors, our thinkers are being sued to death by tort lawsuits. Nobody wants to do research in America, that's how terrified they are. This needs to change. We used to be the forefront in medical technologies, and now we're lagging behind, because all of our medical research companies are either going bankrupt or shipping off overseas. And NOT for cheaper labor. =P
- And finally, it encourages irresponsibility - if you're good enough, you can sue anyone for anything. There's a lady in San Francisco who sued her neighbours because their kid's basketball thumping against the ground caused her stress. How is that responsible? I've been talking a lot about economical consequences, but the social consequences exist, too. There's no RISK to frivilous lawsuits, and that's why people do them.
Anyway. That's a longer post than I thought, I'm sorry. I meant to keep it shorter. Alas.
So if you've gotten this far...
What do you think?
Edited by Casilla, 07 October 2006 - 10:04 AM.
