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Show ey yt Ye __TheSaltLakeTribune OPINIONSunday, 33, 300) ans A Judicial Response to Reformers: Let Them Eat Cake In Oregon, where the Legisla- BY SHERMANJOYCE these anti-reform arbitrarily discriminating aro ture placed a $500,000 ceiling on pain and suffering, the state Su- When the constitutions of most states were adopted, one or two centuries ago,it’s hard to believe that their founding fathers spent much time debating whether fu ture generations of trial lawyers should be able to get rich from massive lawsuits. Yet that’s the opinion,in effect, of too many courts in too many states. Those judges have decided, preme Court said the measure violated the right to a jury trial granted bythe state Constitution. In Hiinois, where lawmakers ap- “threatens the judiciary as an independent branch of government.” (Similar arguments were heard 20 Supreme Court said the law violated a constitutional prohibition on “special legislation” by friendlier forum for trial lawyers. to safeguard the! many state supreme court judges those policies to individual cases, on personal whim; today, receive millions of dollars in cam- even when they may not agree ee guidelines are almost universal.) paign contributions from plaintiffs years ago when voters objected to bility, medical negligence and wrongful death verdicts, the state of Congress should administer the medicine. rulings by eae Danrenss Court ofthe Chad States. State courts are a much — handing out prison terms It’s no accident that punitive lawyers - a fact that is unlikely to be mentioned in their opinions. with them. State reforms should be upheld. If not, Congress should do the job. Sharmon Jipce ti Presidentof the American Tort Reform Assotia tion, a bipartisan coalition of mire than 300 businesses, municipalities, associations and professionalfirms that wasfounded to support civil justice reform. in their wisdom, that we Americans have an inalienable right to sue for big bucks. At least 90 courts have ruled against reform legislation, inclyding recent decisions bystate su- ® 27 CU. FT. REFRIGERATOR WITH preme courts in Oregon, Ohio, Iilinois, Indiana, Kentucky and New Hampshire. It is clear that growing numbers of judges regard themselves, not lawmakersorvot-} ers, as having the authority to set’ the rulesof liability Theifposition might be more. reasonable“ if indeed there were rules "but too often there aren't. As recent verdicts have shown, some plaintiffs’ personal injury lawyers are runningfree like kids Tae iene Aa] in a candy store, grabbing for goodies while their bemused elders smile folerantly. A few years ago, verdicts of more than $100 million were considered extraordinary. Today, they hardly merit a headline. In Cali- fornia, for example, a jury returned a $4.8 billion punitive ver- dict last year against General Motors for an accidentin which a GM car was rear-ended by another car at 70 miles per hour and caught fire, burning the occupants. The judge refused to let the jury hear that the crash was caused by a drunk driver, or that the car had demonstrated an outstanding safety record over millions ofreal life miles In another California verdict, jurors returned a $295 million verdict against Ford for a rollover ac- cident (on the slightly brighter side,the judge ordered a newtrial on the punitivesafter learning that jury membershad discussed a “60 Minutes” segment and a juror’s bad dream during their deliberations). And less than three years ago, a New Orleansjury returned a $2.5 billion verdict against CSX Transportation for a chemical leak from a rail car that caused no deaths, no serious injuries and no property damage! The National Transportation Safety Board even said that CSX wasnotatfault. 4 In 1999,the top 10 civil verdicts UO Pee | CC ere Ly without freezing! in U.S, courts (not countingclassaction lawsuits or litigation between corporations)totaled nearly $9 billion. That’s triple the dollar valueofthe previous year’s top ten, and anastonishing 12 times the 1997 total for those cases. And punitive damages accounted for nearly 90 percentof the 1999 top 10 verdicts. Legislators have decided that a reasonable solution is to enact TTS RT RO a eC Le Le Le PU Ces a limits on punitive damages. But courts, jealous of their prerogatives and eggedonbytrial lawyers whoare generouscontributors to judicial candidates, have decided otherwise. Economic Boom Could Bust PPPS UC Cer eon 90-100% humidity needed to keep food hydrated! Social Security BY GARETH DAVIS KNIGHT-RIDDER NEW‘ RVICE TURANa0ae Can faster economic growth saveSocial Security from financial collapse? Defenders of the current system argue that it can, and they are Ma Stat quickto cite the latest report from the Social Security trustees showing that the bankruptcy datefor the program’s “trust fund” has moved back three years, to 2037. But in truth, faster economic growth can never put Social Secu- rity on a sound financial footing, and by some measures it could Spee ee med To aearte 24 CU. FT. SIDE-BY-SIDE CU. FT. 214 CU. FT. © “Dual Cool” freshness ° Freezer shelf ° paiesiabie spillproof shelves » Freezerlight © Pure/Cleanfiltration * “Dual Cool” freshness © Adjustable spillproof shelves © “Dual Cool” control pillsaver shelves ¢ Deep even add to the program’s prob- lems. According to a Social Security Administration analysis based onthe 1999 trustees’ report, even if wages grow 56 percentfaster than projected over the next 75 years, there would be only a small improvement in the program’s solvency. This is not to deny that eco- WE ta au nomic growthhelps on the revenue side of Social Security's balance sheet. Higher wages generate more moneyfor Social Security since the program's revenueis derived from a 12.4 percenttax on payrolls (up to thefirst $72,600 of income). But under current law, Social Security benefits are also tied to wages. In any year that the “Average Wage Index” increases, Social Security must pay higher benefits to workers retiring that year. Those who claim faster economic growth is a panacea for Social Security are mistaken. The long-term financial crisis facing Social Security cannot be wished away. mee Tm 10-00 ALM10200 PAL oti 10:00 1 CLOSED SUNDAY $e Halip 3 heenoA Apt 1 |