Tort Reform
If the “tort reforms” of House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his band of merry men become law, we can at least all hope that our mothers, brothers, sons and daughters are not hospitalized next month, next year or ever. Hope they never fall victim to the negligent acts of “professionals”; never are maimed by defective products promoted for profit by corporations.
Reality: $250,000 will not go far for the lifetime care of the paralyzed or brain-injured. So if a loved one is victimized, after the $250,000 is gone, after your insurance runs out, after you sell or over-mortgage your house, hope at least for state welfare care. That will be all that’s left--maybe.
A tort is a civil wrong. So what Gingrich and his men are doing through “tort reform” is rewarding the wrongdoers and their insurance companies. Nothing more, nothing less.
RAYMOND PAUL JOHNSON
Attorney, Los Angeles
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