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Elric: I'm not a Republican or a Democrat - and I love to scathe at the Stoopid policies of each equally.
The stickers on the ladders are annoying and a silly byproduct of lawyers reacting to jury verdicts. Rather than fix the ladder (assuming it's "broken" in some way) they place a sticker on it (because you can choose to WARN rather than make something safe) - like McDonald's. While discussing McD's, they don't want to burn you, they want to discourage the Senior crowd from coming in, buying a coffee, and having 3-4 cups. The idea is that you *won't* drink it that hot. It's served at 150+F you know - scalding temperature.
I agree that most businessmen are like you and are simply trying to make ends meet while supporting their workforce. Especially in small companies. But, I have found that 20 men sitting around a Board of Directors table are capable of commiting evils as a group that not one of them would commit as an individual. As I said, tort reform should not stop the HUGE verdicts in the case of EGREGIOUS wrongs. People who tried to do the right thing do NOT get the silly verdicts we are all pissed off at. And, when that .00001% does happen, I think the offending company needs to be slapped silly.
The unfortunate truth is that small companies are like the middle class - hit hard from both directions. Sorry, but that doesn't make me support the notion of limiting recovery for the biggest offenders.
Finally, see my later post regarding WORKABLE tort reform. The system I propose would allow the punishment without allowing the silly windfalls. As an addendum to that system, I should note that the lawyer's fees should only come from the non-punitive portions or should be decreased for that portion of the recovery -- thereby reducing the incentive to sue that we are currently faced with. I agree that I don't want to see the lawyers making such silly gobs of money.
[ 01-14-2003, 02:28 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]
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