Europeans avoid joint ventures for fear of being drawn into the American courts. In areas from genesplicing to space technology to laser surgery, leadingedge innovators are caught up in an endless guessing game with the courts. Respected engineering firms are refusing contracts to clean up dump sites, fearful of being the only deep pockets on the scene. Incinerators are tied up in court for years while landfills overflow and midnight dumpers have afield day. Candidates are searching for ways to expand parents' daycare options.
Malpracticewary doctors spend billions on redundant testing and covertheirtail paperwork.
The most rigid constraints on hiring, firing and the like now come from the courts, not Washington. The FDA may approve and endorse, but drug and vaccine sellers, are more afraid of what the courts could do. In California and Texas, outofcontrol legal systems are on the campaign agenda this year in big ballot fights. But this issue is beginning to arrive elsewhere too. And the movement for legal reform now has its manifesto.