Court 'Reform' Lets Guilty Firms Off The Hook
Chicago Sun-Times, Letters to the Editor, 01/23/2006By Keith Hebeisen
The power of big corporations over our political system has never been more apparent. Just read the headlines: Congress passes an "energy" bill giving billions of dollars in subsidies to oil and gas companies, even as they reap record profits from soaring gasoline prices. Drug companies successfully lobby to ban the importation of safe prescription drugs from Canada , while seniors here can't afford their medications. Airline companies use the bankruptcy code to wipe out workers' pension plans, while the executives reap huge salaries. There's every reason for average Americans to feel like the deck is stacked.
With the current administration and Congress in the pocket of corporate interests, working families still have recourse when they are harmed by the actions of corporations. The civil justice system is the place where every person is equal before the law. Now, however, the corporate interests that dominate the executive and legislative branches of government are trying to change the laws that give regular people fair access to the courts.
Corporate interests have launched a massive campaign to convince the public that the legal system is broken because of too many lawsuits. Their goal is to change the legal system to make it harder for regular people to access the courts. No one can or should be in favor of frivolous lawsuits. But the proposals being pushed by the big corporations would deny access to justice for many people with legitimate claims.
The Sun-Times, itself part of a large corporation, has used its editorial page [''Step by step, lawsuits get more frivolous, costly,'' Dec. 26, 2005] to advocate for changes to the legal system that would benefit large corporate interests. The Sun-Times chose to cite two examples of unwarranted lawsuits and suggest, as a result, that the whole system be overturned. That would be like suggesting that although only a handful of corporate executives engaged in fraud, the entire company should be considered guilty.
We must seek a level playing field in our civil justice system, so that legitimate claims of corporate wrongdoing can be heard and decided fairly.
Without access to the courts, those who are injured cannot receive compensation -- and those who have harmed them won't be held accountable.
Clearly, the current administration and Congress won't do it. They are more interested in relaxing safety and environmental standards, reflecting the agenda of the special interests that fund their campaigns.
Absent the prospect of any remedial action from Washington , our civil justice system is the only effective means of reining in corporate misbehavior. If corporations know that juries can give only limited awards to people who are hurt, they will have even less incentive to keep people safe. If corporations are shielded from lawsuits by their employees, they are more likely to take shortcuts on worker safety or raid employee pension funds. If the legal system stops holding corporations accountable, working people, consumers and patients will suffer.
It's not just the individual plaintiff whose interests are at stake in such lawsuits. All of us have a stake in ensuring corporations act responsibly.
We all suffer when toxic chemicals pollute our air and water, or when HMOs and insurance companies refuse to pay for needed medical treatment.
As we move forward in Illinois and nationally to bring changes to our civil justice system, we must protect the public's right to access the courts. It is not ''reform'' to close the doors of the civil justice system to average citizens and, in so doing, give corporate wrongdoers a free pass.
Keith Hebeisen
President, Illinois State Trial Lawyers Association
