According to those people who are in favor of tort reform, it is a remedy to correct particular problems in medical malpractice, personal injury law and other kinds of tort cases. Examples of such problems are jurisdictions that are flooded with injury cases, cases of personal injury that are filed to late after the incident happened, and those cases which judges provide large damage amounts to the person who suffered injuries or loss. Although, the proposed changes or corrections in this kind of reform vary, most give their attention in limiting lawsuits or setting limitations to the compensation amount available in tort proceedings.
Limiting lawsuits
Many of the proposal being raised in tort reforms aims to lessen or control the number of personal injury or medical malpractice tort cases that are being filed in the court. There are many proposals that were raised but the most appealing is the one called statute of limitations. This set a time frame or a grace period for the filing of such cases from the time the incident happened. Aside from that, it also limits the list of injuries to qualify in filing the cases.
Limiting Damages
The reform also wants to fix the punitive damages. These are the extra damage cost against the defendant if the plaintiff wins the case. Say for example, the plaintiff suffered from an injury and the cost of the paid bills is $2000 (Compensatory cost), if he/she wins, the defendant will pay it and the court will oblige the defendant to pay the plaintiff additional $2000 as a lesson for committing negligence.
Pros of Tort Reforms
- If this reform will be passed, the courts will spend less cost in because the number of personal injury lawsuits will possibly decline.
- The juries will have more time to focus in other cases because the number of personal injury lawsuits will possibly decrease.
- The companies and institutions involved in the case will not pay extra punitive damages. Thus, it gives them a chance to be saved from being sued.
- Eco-friendly, since the number of possible cases to be filed, less paper will be used in courts.
Cons of Tort Reforms
- The statute of limitations will give the injured person a heavy burden additional to their injuries because of the time frame limit.
- If the signs of injury for instance, occur after several years, it would be very hard for the plaintiff to win the case. The worst is that maybe, they will not be able to file a case anymore. This is because of the time limit. What if an individual develops cancer after taking a drug for almost a year? He or she could possibly be disqualified to file a personal injury lawsuit because of the time limit being set by the tort reform, isn’t it?
- The injured person will suffer more because of this reform while the involved person at fault will not face any disciplinary action at all that will result to continuously practice negligence in the future.
How Do You Feel about Tort Reforms?
This controversial issue divided a lot of people’s opinion. How about you? Where do you belong? What is your stand about this particular hot issue?
