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Very interesting video story from the WSJ.
http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2008/10/check_it_out_bush_legacy_tort.html
http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2008/10/check_it_out_bush_legacy_tort.html
Bush on TORT reform
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Kia Franklin
More on Bush’s Preemption Legacy
To accompany the video in the blogpost below, I offer two pieces for your reading pleasure (or in this case, necessary outrage).
First, here is a link to Alicia Mundy’s WSJ article, “Bush Rule Changes Could Block Product Safety Suits.” The article points out that this year alone, “lawsuit protection language has been added to 10 new regulations, including one issued Oct. 8 at the Department of Transportation that limits the number of seatbelts car makers can be forced to install and prohibits suits by injured passengers who didn’t get to wear one.” Classy.
And here’s a link to the AAJ’s new report, “Get Out of Jail Free: How the Bush Administration Helps Corporations Escape Accountability.” The report contains some good stuff—including actual excerpts from correspondence between officials at federal agencies like the FDA and representatives of big business industries like the Pharmaceutical industry. If it were a movie I’d go see it—unfortunately, it’s real life. The report observes that “the administration has injected politics into every aspect of Americans’ lives, from their medicine cabinets to their cars’ brakes, at the expense of consumer safety.” Disgusting.
So what do the video, the article, and the report all remind us? That electing a new President, say, one who actually cares about civil justice issues, is still no cure-all for the ills caused by pro-business policies like Bush-style preemption. The tort “reforms” churned out under the current administration have caused pervasive damage to our civil justice system, and to our ability to fight for safe products. Reversing the damage will require both time (for instance, to reverse these preemption rules can take a year, according to Mundy’s article) and decisive Presidential leadership. But it will also require agitation from the grassroots, increased public awareness about tort “reform,” and a growing movement in the social justice community to add civil justice to its agenda. That’s the only way to create true reform that actually strengthens the court system and makes justice within arm’s reach for ordinary people.
http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2008/10/more_on_bushs_preemption_legac.html
Kia Franklin
More on Bush’s Preemption Legacy
To accompany the video in the blogpost below, I offer two pieces for your reading pleasure (or in this case, necessary outrage).
First, here is a link to Alicia Mundy’s WSJ article, “Bush Rule Changes Could Block Product Safety Suits.” The article points out that this year alone, “lawsuit protection language has been added to 10 new regulations, including one issued Oct. 8 at the Department of Transportation that limits the number of seatbelts car makers can be forced to install and prohibits suits by injured passengers who didn’t get to wear one.” Classy.
And here’s a link to the AAJ’s new report, “Get Out of Jail Free: How the Bush Administration Helps Corporations Escape Accountability.” The report contains some good stuff—including actual excerpts from correspondence between officials at federal agencies like the FDA and representatives of big business industries like the Pharmaceutical industry. If it were a movie I’d go see it—unfortunately, it’s real life. The report observes that “the administration has injected politics into every aspect of Americans’ lives, from their medicine cabinets to their cars’ brakes, at the expense of consumer safety.” Disgusting.
So what do the video, the article, and the report all remind us? That electing a new President, say, one who actually cares about civil justice issues, is still no cure-all for the ills caused by pro-business policies like Bush-style preemption. The tort “reforms” churned out under the current administration have caused pervasive damage to our civil justice system, and to our ability to fight for safe products. Reversing the damage will require both time (for instance, to reverse these preemption rules can take a year, according to Mundy’s article) and decisive Presidential leadership. But it will also require agitation from the grassroots, increased public awareness about tort “reform,” and a growing movement in the social justice community to add civil justice to its agenda. That’s the only way to create true reform that actually strengthens the court system and makes justice within arm’s reach for ordinary people.
http://www.tortdeform.com/archives/2008/10/more_on_bushs_preemption_legac.html