New From CJRG Members

• [W]e should allow malpractice premiums to rise when the next malpractice crisis hits. Providers are rational. When injuring patients becomes more expensive than not injuring them, providers will stop injuring patients. Lowering malpractice premiums through tort reform eliminates this incentive without substituting anything. Litigation rates and premiums will fall on their own when providers improve the quality of care. As Dr. Donald J. Palmisano, the past president of the American Medical Association, aptly observed, fewer errors "will reduce the number of lawsuits against physicians," since an uninjured patient is far less likely to become a plaintiff. (Hyman, David A. and Silver, Charles, "SOLUTIONS: Malpractice Litigation in U.S. Health Care Reform," Washington Times, August 23, 2009)


• Imposing Texas-style limitations on all 50 states may or may not be a good idea. Experts disagree on the effects and desirability of caps. For example, although Burgess believes that doctors rushed into Texas after tort reforms took hold in 2003, a study by two of us found that, from 2004 to 2007, the state’s supply of direct patient care physicians actually grew unusually slowly, given the expansion of the state’s economy...In our judgment, the Texas approach is too simple-minded. Texans got nothing in return when they gave all healthcare providers the benefit of caps on noneconomic damages in 2003. They received no guarantee that the supply or the quality of healthcare available to Texans would improve, or that costs would go down. (Avraham Ronen, Hyman David A. and Silver, Charles, "Texas-Style Caps on No-Economic Damages Isn’t Smart Tort Reform" Editorial, Star-Telegram, July 18, 2009)


• The American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section is honoring Charles M. Silver of Austin, Texas, with the Robert B. McKay Law Professor Award. The award will be presented to Silver during the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago at the section’s Leadership and Awards Dinner...Established in 1988, the award was created by the section to honor law professors who have shown commitment to the advancement of justice, scholarship and the legal profession, demonstrated by outstanding contributions to the fields of tort and insurance law. ("Charles M. Silver is Recipient of 2009 Robert B. McKay Law Professor Award" ABA News Release, July 8, 2009)


• "The notion that somehow civil justice is hurting business in the state is just totally unfounded," said UW law professor emeritus Marc Galanter, who co-authored the study, recently published in a booklet entitled "Civil Justice in Wisconsin: A Fact Book, With Commentary." Although the overall number of civil cases filed in state and federal courts of Wisconsin has risen over the past decade-plus, the vast majority of these were small claims filings and the study says there is no evidence that excessive litigation is harming the state's business climate. (Finkelmeyer, Todd , “UW Report: WMC Claims Of Excessive Litigation In State Are Bogus,” Madison Capital Times, April 6, 2009.)


• Pending the outcome of the ongoing FDA investigation, families of victims may have the right to take legal action. Frank McClellan, a Temple health law professor, has substantial litigation experience in products liability. “With most lawsuits, it will be filed as a personal injury action, which, for private individuals, is brought under state and civil law as a personal injury claim called a private tort lawsuit,” McClellan said. In a Supreme Court case from earlier this month, the Court ruled it permissible for a person to file a lawsuit for not being informed about the dangers of a personal product. (Rubinsky, Valerie and Fernandez, Joshua, “Energy Boosters Could be Cause of Heart Failure,” Temple News, March 31, 2009.)


• Phoebe A. Haddon has, in a sense, been preparing to become a law school dean her entire professional career. Now, the well-known legal education scholar will have a chance to put her ideas into practice. Haddon, named the ninth dean of the University of Maryland School of Law on Monday, envisions the school as an "urban research institution," with its clinics and programs focused on solving community problems. 'I'm very excited about that concept as a way of capturing some of what is already being done here and making it better,' she said. (Jacobs, Danny, "Haddon Named UM Law's Ninth Dean," Maryland Daily Record, March 31, 2009.)


• Hyman, David A., Black, Bernard S., Silver, Charles M. and Sage, William M., Estimating the Effect of Damages Caps in Medical Malpractice Cases: Evidence from Texas (February 26, 2009). The Journal of Legal Analysis, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 355-409, 2009; U Illinois Law & Economics Research Paper No. 07-16; U of Texas Law, Law and Econ Research Paper No. 106; 2nd Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies Paper.
  

More CJRG Members In The News