We all know that President Bush is a relentless advocate of “tort reform”. But did you know that in 1999, then Governor George W. Bush sued Enterprise Rent-A-Car over a car accident involving daughter, Jenna? Although his insurance would have covered the repair costs making a lawsuit unnecessary, Bush filed suit against Enterprise, which had rented a car to someone with a suspended license. For more details see: http://www.patridiots.com/000844.html.
Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum is another big “tort reformer”. Less well known is that a Virginia jury awarded Senator Santorum’s wife $350,000 in damages on December 10, 1999. She charged that a chiropractor’s negligence caused her permanent back pain. Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill, reported that Santorum testified that his wife might not be able to actively campaign for him.
Throughout the trial, Santorum aides declined to comment. After the trial, they issued a statement from the senator saying: “The court proceedings are a personal family matter. I will not be offering any further public comments, other than that I am not a party to the suit. But I am fully supportive of my wife.”
U.S. Senator Trent Lott, a famous proponent of caps on the amounts for which people can sue, sued State Farm over its refusal to cover his Hurricane Katrina property losses. Shouldn’t there be a cap on the amount of damages he gets?
Prior to the storm Senator Lott has uttered the following gems: “I’m among many Mississippi citizens who believe tort reform is needed.” “It’s sue, sue, sue… That’s not the answer.”
Hurricane Katrina destroyed Lott’s 154-year-old waterfront home in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The house was worth $750,000. On the Senate floor Lott pounded his fist and said homeowners along the Gulf Coast are fed up, warning that insurance companies better do the right thing or there will be “hell to pay…” State Farm says the storm surge destroyed the home, and since Lott didn’t have flood insurance, he isn’t entitled to coverage.
Query the basis for filing suit against his homeowner’s insurance carrier for flood damage, when a basic homeowner’s policy does not, and never did, cover flood damage.
It seems that when Trent “Humpty Dumpty” Lott files a lawsuit, it is not considered “suing”… “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “It means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
Pennsylvania Senate Majority Whip Jeffrey Piccola recently sued orthopedists for medical malpractice. Senator Piccola is a co-sponsor of the Corman/Piccola bill that seeks to drastically limit joint and several liability. It would limit the liability of entities that have been proven to be at least partially culpable for a harm. This would increase the risk that the financial burden of treating an injury will fall upon the injured person.
In future e-newsletters, it will be the doctors’ turn again. We’ll explore the concept of doctors and other “experts” who sell their opinions to the highest bidder. We’ll also investigate doctors who refuse to testify in court, nothwithstanding their ethical obligation to the patient.
Editor’s Note: I am not implicating all doctors and all politicians, just those whose hypocrisy merits exposure.