American Thinker "...Rick Perry telegraphed which issue may separate him from the herd of Republican candidates if he enters the presidential race: tort reform... Perry stated, then reiterated, that successful tort reform had played a major role in the Texas economic renaissance by establishing that state's reputation as a business-friendly environment. He pointedly mentioned the important role medical technology and research were playing in Texas' economic growth, an industry that is frequently victimized by ambulance chasers.
He then rang the Liberty Bell of Legal Doom by saying that tort reform nationwide is essential in any successful campaign to turn the American economy around."
Emphasis added
What Is Tort Reform? "While each tort reform law is different, they all share one or more of the following goals:"
•To make it more difficult for injured people to file a lawsuit.
•To make it more difficult for injured people to obtain a jury trial.
•To place limits on the amount of money injured people receive in a lawsuit.
Federalism and Tort Reform "In
this post*, I explained why
federally mandated tort reform is, in most cases, both constitutionally dubious and unnecessary. The better way to restrict abusive tort suits is through interstate competition combined with constraints on states’ ability to regulate conduct outside their borders."....
*Even Alabama, notorious for being the nation’s worst tort “hellhole” in the 1980s and 90s, has to a large extent cleaned up its act. Alabama ultimately replaced its pro-plaintiff state supreme court justices with ones that took a dimmer view of tort litigation. State leaders worried that Alabama would lose business if they did not. In most cases, “voting with your feet” is an excellent solution to the problem of runaway state tort law.