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Wednesday, August 24, 2005
What is Jury Reform?
The Vioxx case seems to have attracted the attention of our intrepid blawgers; and, more broadly, the Tort Reform alarm has been sounded again.
The refrain goes like this: Exhibit A: McDonald's hot coffee. Exhibit B: Vioxx. . . . Of course, the Reformers will no doubt fill the comments section with many other examples to add to the list. Let's assume that the Reformers are right, and all of these awards are indeed indefensible.
My question is rather simple: Why is it only the perceived overcompensatory awards that raise the hackles of the Jury Reformers? Why don't the Jury Reformers seem to care about the undercompensated and non-compensated victims?
Posted by Hillel Levin on August 24, 2005 at 09:38 AM in Hillel Levin | Permalink
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Comments
And because the entire population of Alabama is possessed by the devil, it's vital that we start putting up Ten Commandments displays in all of the courthouses, ASAP.
Posted by: Kaimi | Aug 24, 2005 5:07:29 PM
Christine: I thought the party line was that the entire population of Alabama is possessed by the devil.
Posted by: Kate Litvak | Aug 24, 2005 12:06:03 PM
The founders never intended juries to be of the commoners. They understood the importance of juries being made up of elites, that is why they didn't mean it when they wrote the 6th or 7th amendments.
Posted by: S.cotus | Aug 24, 2005 11:08:33 AM
I like that analogy!
Posted by: Hillel Levin | Aug 24, 2005 10:38:58 AM
Big jury verdicts are to tort reform what missing pretty white girls are to CNN. The award will be cut down or reversed on appeal, but that story will be on page A18, but the anecdote will still appear on tort reform web pages with the original award amount. Teaching torts, I get emails all the time to the tune of "Juries are possessed by the devil in Alabama." When I look the cited jury award up in Westlaw, it has been chopped down considerably, but the email writer never mentions that.
Posted by: Christine Hurt | Aug 24, 2005 10:33:12 AM
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