Joining the Push for Tort Reform

Re “Even the Odious Have Legal Rights,” Commentary, March 30: Thank you, Andres Martinez, for the common-sense article about our judicial system. As a liberal who has long been a proponent of tort reform, I am embarrassed that the left turns a blind eye to the immorality of the legal system in much the same way that the right does with big business.

James L. Hardeman

Fullerton

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Martinez presents a good argument on why fixing the legal system is so important. The class-action system was established so that groups of injured or harmed plaintiffs could pool their resources under one lawsuit. It was not intended for attorneys to add unwilling plaintiffs to a contingency-based suit to pad their fees. I applaud Congress for passing the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005.

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This law will, among other things, stop personal injury attorneys from venue-shopping a lawsuit and help protect class members from getting coupons of little or no value while attorneys make millions of dollars.

Linda Okun

Executive Director

Los Angeles Citizens

Against Lawsuit Abuse

Glendora