I’ve spilled a lot of pixels here over the last six years on the issue of tort “reform” and the claims from business and the medical profession that personal injury suits are killing them. I’ve made arguments, I’ve cited studies, I’ve pointed out hypocrisy.
But sometimes, nothing beats a good old fashioned graph, like the one at right. That’s right, just five percent of civil cases filed in the U.S. are tort cases. Most are contract matters, basically Business v. Business.
And then there is this other graph, at the left, showing the decline in medical malpractice payments over the last 10 years. You would think, if you listened to the doctors lobby, that the graph should be running the other way. But it doesn’t.
You can read more about the Facts v. Fiction of America’s ‘Litigation Explosion” at this link. It’s something to think about the next time the Chamber of Commerce comes out with its pseudo-scientific survey of….wait for it….corporate lawyers on their feelings about litigation. Seriously. Or maybe the American Tort Reform Association equally laughable “Judicial Hellholes” report that members of the media distribute as if it was news, even though it has “no apparent methodology.”