Virginia Injury Lawyer Blog

Here's a novel idea for the Bush Administration: the next time a Virginia jury considers the proper amount to award a Virginia citizen severely injured by the carelessness of another, the jury should consider ... the facts of the specific case ... rather than the Bush Administration's talking points for the insurance industry that are meant to prejudice a jury and keep it from its solemn duty to ... yes, consider the facts of the specific case before the jury.

The Bush administration recently has added to its growing stockpile another claim based on false data. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulsen Jr. stated that "the broken tort system is an Achilles heel for our economy." Paulsen based his opinion on a "study" by an insurance industry consulting firm.

It seems that the study includes the cost of the insurance industry itself - multimillion dollar salaries for insurance CEOs, rent on office buildings, and administration overhead - in the "cost" of the legal system. Business Week called the study "a wild exaggeration," and The Wall Street Journal stated that the study "includes payments that don't involve the legal system at all." The Journal concluded that payments from a careless driver to somebody who has been legitimately wronged is not evidence of a "system run amok,"

Even the organization conducting the study admitted that "the costs tabulated in this study are not a reflection of litigated claims or of the legal system," and the primary author of the study has said that tort-reform advocates' use of the data has been "misleading."

In May of 2005 the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank in Washington D.C. found that this report:

was one-sided, exaggerating the impact of the tort system and ignoring its benefits, and that evidence supporting them is shaky or nonexistent. Claims that the tort system harms the U.S. economy do not square with the data. In fact, there is a good deal of evidence to the contrary.

To be sure, there are frivolous claims, and frivolous defenses, in lawsuits of all varieties. But the Bush Administration has suggested that our tort system is fraught with frivolous claims. Perhaps the Administration should hold-up a mirror before accusing others of making repeated claims based upon false information.

No, Virginia, your jury verdicts for injured men, women and children are not excessive or "out-of-control."

The American Tort Reform Association -- "ATRA" -- has published its list of "Judicial Hellholes" of 2006 ... and, Virginia, you are not on its list. You are not even an "Honorable Mention," and you are not even on the "Watch List." One sure way to get on the list? Allow runaway jury verdicts.

No doubt Virginia's absence from this list will come as a great surprise to Virginia jurors who long have been besieged with the cries of ATRA and the insurance companies and corporations to the effect that jury awards for the injured are "everywhere" out-of-control.

The insurance companies have dropped tons of propaganda over the landscape of America: propaganda that tells prospective jurors that every plaintiff is a malingering fraud and that every plaintiff's lawyer is an "ambulance-chaser" ... propaganda that does not tell prospective jurors that the insurance companies' media blitz over the past twenty (20) or so years has saved them untold millions of dollars that under the law should have gone to compensate millions of victims of serious injury and wrongful death.

Virginia jurors still believe -- against all the evidence -- that runaway verdicts for the injured are rampant in Virginia and that they must take corrective action to even the scales of justice. Yet jurors understandably have no knowledge of actual jury verdicts in Virginia because the insurance companies that tell them of the horror stories of isolated runaway verdicts do not tell them the rest of the truth -- of the flood of inadequate verdicts.

How do we know that jurors still believe that runaway verdicts are rampant? First, jurors tell us so after their verdicts. Second, ask a juror how many times he has heard of an inadequate verdict. His response: "never."

Virginia jurors still believe that plaintiff's lawyers are the promulgators of all of the lawsuit abuse. Yet Virginia judges and trial lawyers know that frivolous defenses in Virginia are at least as common as frivolous lawsuits. Ask a juror how many times he has heard of a frivolous defense. His response: "never."

Virginia's not being on this list of "judicial hellholes" is no surprise to Virginia judges or the trial lawyers for the plaintiff and defense. Each of them knows that an injured plaintiff in Virginia has one hand tied behind his back and two strikes against him when he first comes to bat in court. Candidly, this does not apply to victims of medical malpractice in Virginia, who have two hands and two feet tied-up, and who can be seen limping-up to the plate and then simply heading back to the dugout without taking a swing.

What can the Virginia juror do about this? Simple: rid yourself -- honestly rid yourself -- of the insurance companies' propaganda ... and simply listen to the facts of each case and follow the law in that case. This guarantees favor to no one ... except "Lady Justice." The law does not provide for your allegiance to the insurance companies' self-interested propaganda. The law provides -- no, demands -- your allegiance to Lady Justice.