Trial lawyers are consumer’s friends

In today’s Buzz, Mark Caputo writes, “Trial lawyers get a whacking in Florida Legislature.” FCAN works with the trial lawyers in the Florida Justice Association, because they are on our side against insurance companies and on other issues. The FJA holds a seat on FCAN’s Board of Directors.

According to Caputo, the current issues are giving “sovereign immunity” to doctors at state universities who work at public hospitals, like Tampa General, regulation of expert witnesses, and auto crash worthiness. Why do these issues matter to consumers?

If your doctor at Tampa General or Jackson Memorial is negligent and hurts you, now you can’t sue. You can try to ask the Legislature to pass a bill to give you some money, but good luck. Why should these docs be able to hurt consumers and walk away?

Then, who pays for your health care if you’re injured?  Often these lawsuits are for people who are left paralyzed or need some kind of treatment for life. Without a settlement to pay medical bills, they are going to rely on the taxpayers, instead of the person that did the damage. How is that fair? Do you have to let the same doctor at the same public hospital work on you again?

The expert witness legislation in H 479 will make it harder for you to get an expert to testify. Your witness may have to be certified by the Department of Health and could be harassed with complaints and subject to disciplinary action.  That’s not because there’s a problem, but to intimidate witnesses.

The auto crashworthiness legislation reduces the liability of auto manufacturers for building unsafe cars.  Currently, you separately sue the driver and the car manufacturer for their wrongdoing, if any. Now, they must be combined, so each will only be held partly responsible.

The big picture is that consumers need trial lawyers when we fight big corporations. Corporations have all the advantages, especially teams of highly paid lawyers who specialize in defeating consumers.  When you have to take them on, you are at a disadvantage. Because your lawyer can take your case contingent on receiving part of the settlement, you have a way to get to court.  Court cases can be very expensive, so the trial lawyer could invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in your case, and may get nothing back at all.  Juries today are notoriously stingy and suspicious.

Then there’s politics. Republicans are attacking lawyers because they often support Democrats and groups like FCAN. Lawyers and unions are two of the biggest supporters of Democrats, so if Republicans take them down, they take their opponent’s resources, a huge advantage.

However, the lawyers are a clever and resourceful opponent. I have seen insurance companies try to take them on in Tallahassee year after year and end up scratching their heads, wondering where all their money went.

So, trial lawyers:  keep fighting for us, and keep fighting!