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Mike - I see the "state of liability litigation" as you put it from the other side: I have seen countless ordinary, innocent people harmed by the actions of others who can't seek redress because of ill-thought out and ill-enacted tort "reform" laws that only protect multibillion dollar insurance companies, government, and businesses. I frequently represent elderly people -- parents and grandparents -- abused in nursing homes, some of whom have been literally allowed to starve or rot to death through neglect -- and it turns my stomach when I hear those same nursing homes say to the Florida legislature they need "reform" because they're being sued. If they didn't kill people, I couldn't sue them. If they followed the law, I couldn't sue them. If they met the MINIMUM standards set by the Federal government, I couldn't sue them. They haven't asked the state to help them to do better; they've asked the state to insulate them from responsibility FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS so they can make more money by hurting other people. That's just wrong. I strongly believe in personal responsibility -- personal responsibility for techdivers and others who are engaged in dangerous sports to bear the results of their own mistakes -- and so do Courts in the State of Florida where liability waivers are universally upheld. I also believe in the other side of personal responsibility -- responsibility for the harm I do to others. Tort "reformers" seem to forget that part. Insurance Companies are still making literally BILLIONS in profits by not paying claims when people are hurt, and the current special interest backed tort "reform" laws uniformly insulate big business and big insurers at the expense of small businesses who are hung out to dry and ordinary people who are harmed. The tort crisis is a made up fantasy that continues to get uncritical air play because it's well funded and no one looks past the special interest spin. I have, it's wrong. True, fair tort reform measures that protect every American will never be passed because of the enormous special interest money spent by large insurers and the largest businesses to buy largely, but not exclusively, Republican support. I make no apologies for doing everything I can to stop this continuing perversion of the American judicial system and for ensuring justice for every American no matter how rich or how poor. I'm not here to change anyone's mind on the issue but I do ask that you look at the hard facts and hard numbers and go beyond the special interest party line to see just how credible their claims are before you come to a conclusion on it. My apologies for the off topic post -- but I couldn't let this issue remain one sided. Best regards - Bill Wolk >At 08:07 AM 9/20/2001 -0400, Chris Elmore wrote: > >>> > I can assure you that any diving death hurts Trey, me and all of us. >>> >>> You can speak for yourself and no more. Trey's a big boy and can speak >>for >>> himself, as he has. Having spoken, he can live with the results. >> >>Lee, I could be mistaken, I'll have to go back and ask my insurance agent >>why they won't issue me a life policy because of the dives I do. > >This is not due to the actions of divers who exercise their right >to dive any way they want to, be it safe or not. It's due to the >state of liability litigation in our country. The way to fix it is >not to restrict the people's right to do stupid things, but rather >to restrict the litigants from winning stupid cases. > >We're all adults making informed decisions about the risks we take; >We have that right, and this is a good thing. I chose not to dive a >rebreather because I judge the risk-benefit ratio too high *for me*. >However, as an American, I stand by the right of others to make >different, sometimes stupid, decisions. If it costs me a bit more >in insurance premiums, I consider it part of the price we all pay to >be free while I fight the real cause of the extra expense: liability >laws. > >-Mike Rodriguez ><mikey@mi*.ne*> >http://www.mikey.net/scuba >Pn(x) = (1/(2^n)n!)[d/dx]^n(x^2 - 1)^n > >============================================================ >To contact the list administrator, email >Mike Rodriguez at mikey@mi*.ne* >To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a message to: >listserv@mi*.ne* >and in the *BODY* of the message type: >unsubscribe FLTechDiver Best regards -- Bill -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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