Tort
Reform
Tort
Reform
The United States needs a system where law suits are reviewed before they go to court. Many cases are brought as "nuisance" cases, designed to get a quick settlement, many times, at a cost to the US taxpayer. Keeping that in mind, we do need to be able to to allow suits with merit their day in court. We do need to hold those corporations accountable when they do something wrong. That being said, here are some ideas:
Law suits need to be decided by a “blind” committee (no attorneys or clients names should appear anywhere on the documents being reviewed) o determine their validity. The committee should be similar to the NYPD Civilian Complaint Review Board, which is composed of professionals and lay persons. In the case of law suits, there should be a panel of 1 judge or law professor, 2 lawyers and 2 lay persons (chosen in a manner similar to Jury Duty).
The panel should discuss the validity of any civil case within 2 weeks of it being filed.
The names of the plaintiffs and defendants should be blacked out, as well as that of their attorneys to eliminate any prejudices that might pre-exist. More precisely, committees in one part of the state should decide the fate of the cases in other parts of the state on a rotating basis. For example:
During the month of January 2005, Bergen County, NJ's cases will be evaluated by a committee in Salem County, NJ. During that same month, Salem County's cases might be decided by a committee in New Jersey's Hudson County. In February 2005, there would be a different county review rotation.
A case with merit should be heard within one calendar year. Since its validity has already been pre-determined, there should be no undo delay.
A case can only be re-opened for review board evaluation if new evidence is found, not for a new argument on old evidence.
A law firm of solo practitioner that has three cases thrown out by review boards in one calendar year is put on probation and has to explain themselves the state's bar. If a good explanation is not forthcoming, the firm or solo practitioner would be suspended for a pre-determined period based on the number of violations it had incurred.
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