Saving lives by lawsuit--after-the-fact risk reduction
IF YOU ARE A PLAINTIFF READING THIS, PLEASE DO NOT SETTLE, BUT GO TO TRIAL FOR THE SAKE OF PREVENTING MORE TRAGEDIES IN THE FUTURE.
Providing Civil Justice
Although Big Business has relentlessly attacked the U.S. civil justice system for the last quarter century or more, the ongoing operation of the trial-by-jury system has had diverse and far-reaching impacts both in retroactively compensating people for injuries and proactively making the world safer and cleaner.
As the Center for Justice and Democracy explains, lawsuits “make us safer.”
“Lawsuits deter culpable manufacturers, polluters, hospitals and other entities from repeating their negligent behavior or misconduct and give them the proper economic incentive to become safer and more responsible,” the Center explains in its 2002 report, “Lifesavers.” Large verdicts often cause companies to improve dangerous products or end unsafe practices. The threat of adverse judgments, including the threat of punitive damages, deters companies from engaging in unsafe behavior. The documents that emerge in the “discovery” phase of litigation — when parties may demand information from their adversaries — often leads to public disclosure of unknown or under-appreciated dangers, and frequently provokes a regulatory response.
Privately, at least, corporate executives acknowledge the beneficial role of lawsuits. A 1987 study based on a survey of risk managers at large U.S. corporations, the industry-backed Conference Board found, “Where product liability [the legal doctrine making corporations responsible for harms caused by products they sell] has had a notable impact — where it has most significantly affected management decision-making — has been in the quality of the products themselves. Managers say products have become safer, manufacturing procedures have been improved, and labels and use instructions have become more explicit.”
In its “Lifesavers” report, the Center for Justice and Democracy lists dozens of safety reforms that have been achieved as a result of civil litigation.
Here's the whole article by Robert Weissman