Tort reform
"Tort reform" is a word used by people who believe that the American court system has too many frivolous civil lawsuits (a claim heavily disputed by many). Most reforms are aimed at limiting the rights of consumers to seek compensation in the courts, placing caps on punitive damages and enacting restrictions on the lawsuits that are filed.
Tort reform is controversial and has become a major rift between the Republicans (traditionally supported by businesspeople) and Democrats (traditionally supported by lawyers). Most notably, in the 2004 presidential election, vice presidential nominee John Edwards (a successful plaintiff's lawyer) has been heavily criticized by tort reform advocates.
While supporters claim tort reformer's aims are simply to reduce frivolous lawsuits, opponents claim that the reformers real intent is to help shield businesses from having to pay just damages for legitimate claims. They argue that large judgments in some cases are the only way to convince multi-million dollar (or billion dollar) companies to avoid future incidences of wrongful practices such as polluting, dangerous product malfunctions, reckless disregard for worker safety, etc.
Current (July 2004) reforms being considered by Congress aim to move class action lawsuits involving plaintiffs in multiple states into the Federal Judiciary System. Supporters of the measure claim that this would stop the practice of "judge shopping" by litigants. "Judge shopping" involves bringing a case to trial in a jurisdiction where the judge has a history of consistantly judging in favor of and/or delivering large settlements to plaintiffs.
The proposals advanced as "tort reform" generally do not address the issues of frivolous suits brought by businesses against competitors or against government regulation, nor do they include frivolous defenses raised in consumer actions.
