Sunday, January 22, 2012

America's Ongoing Tort Litigation Nightmare

Matt Kibbe


When companies break the law or produce a defective product, they should, and are, held accountable. But the problem with our nation’s tort system is that so often companies are punished when they haven’t done anything wrong – sometimes to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. And the problem is only getting worse.
Tort litigation costs Americans more than $250 billion, that’s the equivalent to 2.2 percent of GDP and roughly $838 per person, according to Towers Watson.  This has real economic consequences. In healthcare alone, it’s estimated that tort reform could eliminate up 27 percent of medical costs. In other words, 27 cents of every healthcare dollar goes toward litigation. How does that help lower- and middle-class families struggling to make ends meet?

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