With President Bush's continued rhetorical assault on the civil court system, the LA Times takes a look at how Texas went from being a consumer-friendly state to one where there's very little recourse for those who have been ripped off under his watch as Governor. Take a moment to read it, there's a lot of good stuff in there. One thing that must be pointed out:
Developers and home contractors say juries cannot be trusted to fairly resolve these disputes between a builder and a buyer."The last place you want to go is the civil court system. The facts don't matter to a jury," said Bobby Bowling IV, a builder from El Paso and president of the Texas Assn. of Builders. "In court, the plaintiff's lawyer makes it rich versus poor. It's about the redistribution of wealth."
Bowling said he and other builders were convinced that private arbitration was the best way to settle disputes."It's been a great system for me. I had a woman who had about 60 things she wanted fixed. I finally said, 'Let's go to arbitration,' " he said. "It cost about $10,000 to take care of it all. And it was done in 30 to 60 days. There's nothing like that in the civil justice system."
I think this is the sort of thing that will eventually bite tort-reform advocates and their mostly-Republican supporters in the butt. People expect to get treated fairly when they do things like buy a house, and when they don't get that they expect to be able to recover. Finding out that your only recourse is a system that's stacked against you is sure to change how people view that system. It'll take awhile to overcome all of the lying and scaremongering that is sadly a large part of the pro-tort "reform" argument, but the day will eventually arrive when there will be enough Mary and Keith Cohns with their stories to tell to counterbalance it.
UPDATE: Dwight weighs in.
Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 23, 2004 to Legal matters | TrackBackBush and other ethically and morally challenged Republicans have done more damage and harmed more innocent victims in the US than the total of the fatalities of 3 wars. Even in Texas county courts, like Hood County, those who were elected and appointed to serve and protect are victimizing thier vulnerable wards to cover-up for the residential care centers and the pharmaceutical companies blatant and inhumane abuses. Under Bush's watch as he fraudulently and frivolously served citizens as Governor of Texas, Texas DHS became even more infiltrated with the industries they were supposed to over see. After finding corruption at every level of Texas Government, I knew much was wrong when I found the common factor between 3 nursing homes that joined in retaliate lies (with the assistance of Hood County Court)to cover up the drug abuse and the abuse by chemical and physical restraint that I reported to Texas DHS. DHS surveyors and members of management became a part of the cover-ups and lies and I have hard proof. The common factor was that a large nursing home chain (Mariner) owned the pharmaceutical service provider that monitored and helped prescribe drugs at it's own and all area nursing homes. I also researched and found that children under the state's care were being literally drugged to death and that a large child residential center also owned it's own pharmaceutical service provider that monitored and helped prescribe drugs at it's own and all area child residential centers. When the Texas AG's MEFU did not see the conflict and interests and frauds, I knew much was wrong in Texas. I researched to find out why. Then, I found out about the Texas Medical Algorithm Project as reported by Allen Jones (PA OIG investigator whistle blower: the plan endorsed by Bush as Gov. of Texas (after "big pharma" spent a bundle to get him elected)mandated the use of the atypical antipsychotic drugs in anything to do with mental health in Texas. Anyone who researched the side affects of these drugs could easily understand why elderly and children should not take them. These drugs cost 9 times more than older and safer drugs and have a history of killing elderly and children. Bush Sr. served on the board of Directors (along with Ken Lay) of Eli Lilly manufacturer of the most expensive and deadly Zyprexia. I knew Nanci Wilson of KEYE Tv was reporting on the horrible drugging of children under the states care and it was obvious that she did not know about TMAPS. I sent her Allen Jones's full report and contact info.. Now she's been exposing some of the truths. View news videos starting in May 2004 at keyetv.com/investigativevideo. Now beware Bush as President has extended his favors to "big pharma" with what is called "The New Freedom Initiative". Found out too much about the disgraces in care and protection in Texas!
Brenda Durant 817-573-2585