WASHINGTON -- Most people expect a justice system to provide justice. In recent years, however, the U.S. tort system has run wild. Plaintiffs eschew responsibility for their own actions, trial lawyers search for deep corporate pockets and experts-for-hire promote fantastic negligence theories. The resulting liability lottery simultaneously subverts the market and imposes a de facto tax. Unfortunately, the United States has begun exporting some of the worst aspects of its system to other nations.
Reform efforts in Congress and state legislatures have run into strong resistance from the tort bar. But the American Association for the Advancement of Science recently unveiled a program that should help screen out bad lawsuits.
Liability law was once straight-forward. Plaintiffs attempted to prove that defendants had injured them. Juries compensated successful plaintiffs for any damages incurred.