Opinion from Wisconsin Tort Reform Attorney
Tort reform and damage caps: No one wins
On behalf of Milwaukee personal injury attorney Ric Domnitz of Domnitz & Domnitz, S.C. posted in Car Accidents on Thursday, February 10, 2011.
Recently, Ric Domnitz published a number of pieces regarding tort reform based on his extensive 35 year career in the field of law. One of the topics he discussed was his continued confusion regarding the current efforts of newly elected legislative representative in Madison, Wis. He asks, “Why does the party that insists on upholding the citizenry’s Second Amendment rights want to lay waste to the citizenry’s Seventh Amendment rights to trial by jury?” He expresses that “every time a legislature decides to place a cap on a citizen’s right to recover whatever damages a jury deems appropriate they impose upon a citizen’s right to trial by jury.” Imagine if you were severely injured in an car accident and you couldn’t recover damages because of a these types of legislative changes.
Additionally, Mr. Domnitz expresses his discontent with the legislature’s support to repeal a set of laws known collectively as Truth in Auto. “These are laws which served to make sure that those who caused great harm to others in an unintentional automobile accident were covered by ample insurance to provide for the victim and to protect the personal assets of the person causing the accident. Years ago a minimum level of insurance of $25,000 or $50,000 may have made sense, but in this day and age there can be no rational argument that, given the rise in the cost of medical care, lowering the required level of insurance exposes both the victim and the negligent party to great economic harm, all to serve the economic interests of the insurers. And the legislators who are passing these bills in breakneck fashion are supposed to represent those in our society who favor personal responsibility. Who pays for the damages of a badly injured person when there is too little insurance coverage? We all do, in the form of entitlement programs which step in to fill the void. That serves to build up the role of government and increase the burden on the citizens of this state; hardly in line with traditional conservative politics.”
Opinion from Wisconsin Tort Reform Attorney
Mr. Domnitz concludes his thoughts with a simple question, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.” He questions where the data that serves as a catalyst for changing these laws comes from. Why create new laws to continually make it harder for citizens to recover damages for their injuries, pain and suffering?
Source: WISN.com, “Tort Confusion,” Ric Domnitz, February 4, 2011
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