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February 25, 2006
LA TIMES TAKES IN-DEPTH LOOK AT TORT REFORM VIA REGULATION
Two Los Angeles Times investigative reporters have taken a close look at how the Bush administration has “advanced President Bush's repeated pledge to rein in what he calls junk lawsuits” by embedding tort-reform “protections for businesses in regulatory changes.” In an extensively documented report, they conclude that “through arcane regulatory actions and legal opinions, the Bush administration is providing industry with an unprecedented degree of protection at the expense of an individual's right to sue and a state's right to regulate.”
Among many other examples, they cite current NHTSA proposals to “upgrade” roof crush standards while eliminating court suits against defective SUV roofs. (See Current Developments archives for December, January.) They also quote an Administration spokesman’s defense of the tactic: "'Under the Constitution, federal laws take priority over inconsistent state laws,’ said Scott Milburn, spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget. ‘Decisions about ... whether particular rules should pre-empt state laws are made agency by agency and rule by rule.’”
“The pre-emption initiatives represent a separate approach to the administration's successful legislative push that restricted class-action lawsuits and banned certain claims against industries including gun makers and vaccine producers,” the report concludes.
Posted by MVHAP at February 25, 2006 04:41 PM