The Center for Justice and Democracy has an interesting article contrasting the principles of political conservatives with the tenets of “Tort Reform.”
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY: “Tort reform” relieves corporations and other wrongdoers of responsibility for their misconduct.
LOWER TAXES AND LESS GOVERNMENT SPENDING: In many cases, “tort reform” shifts the cost of compensating injured individuals from corporate wrongdoers to taxpayer-funded health and disability programs.
LAW AND ORDER: “Tort reform” is soft on crime. It lets wrongdoers, including street criminals and perpetrators of hate crimes, off the hook and weakens the system’s ability to deter them from causing future harm.
FAMILY VALUES/PROTECTION OF CHILDREN: “Tort reform” can be catastrophic for many children and their families, causing untold suffering, economic devastation, and for some, the destruction of family life.
LESS GOVERNMENT REGULATION: “Tort reform” regulates what is essentially a free-market approach to holding corporations and other wrongdoers accountable for injuring or killing people by their dangerous products or practices.
