The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-05-06
Compromising the Injured EmpIOye

compromising e"S i"JS'SN -"P'SJ /
1t was singularly suggestive talk
that Mr.. Fits made before the Chit /
tenden County Bar association. MIR
Fits has the force of intellect to-
fuse the ideas he deals with and
make them entirely his own. One
feels that the speaker is not simply
retailing what some wholesaler OF
thoughts has produced. but has
thought 1t out for himself and discov-
cred and rediscoyered the views and
theories which he presents
The most stimulating part OF Mr..
Fits discourse, because il savored
least of special pleading, was the
question OF how best to compensate
employees for bodily injuries recclv-
ed in the course OF employment Mir
! Fits showed conclusiyely that pres
| ent methods of satisfaction, even
where employers liability acts are in
force, are far from just, as we'll as
cumbrous and expensive. The EN-
ployes are not able as class to bear
great expense. And all they recover
ought to be theirs. At present the
vigor with which these cases are
fought. the cost of expert witnesses,
and OF long drawn out litigation. av-
erage something like forty per cent OF
the amount recovered And as long
as damages of this kind are obtain
able only by means of a battle in
court, the peculiar circumstances OF
| fhnua gttgl fhaf f4gtfaa. will
always be expensive and uncertain
On the one side the appeal to the
sympathy which the injured employt
Is able to make. and the tendency Ia
mulct the corporation, make it i'm
possible for the employer to obtain
justice at the hands of jury Or
the other side the power and wealth
of the average employer make it pos
sible for him to defend upon techni
calities. to resort to dilatory methods
and in other ways to make the mach
inery of the law too often go wrong
in his favor instead of in favor oil
the party suing him. These are vices
/ inherent in the fact that there Is Q
contest for the adjustment of the in
. jury, and are not in the last analy
sis, due to defects in the rules under
r which the contest is carried on.
Mr.. Fits, like most thoughtful ant
! original men who have informed
themselves on this subject, believes
that injuries caused by carrying OF
, the business should be made a par
7 OF the operating expenses. This
: merely means that instead of a run
e ming fight, expensive and by M
! means just in its outcome, we SHOULD
have a system of insurance upon {
/, scale fixed to cover the risk justl!
> for both parties Where at presen
D the employer insures himself agains
] suits, he would then insure his EN-
ploye against injury in the course o
{ the employment
/, a point OF public policy which Mr.
e Fits did not touch upon was the ei
feet of doing away with negligence
o as the determining factor in deciding
= whether the man shall or shall no
4 recover This is partially answerel
70 as follows: II II were against publ
u policy to let a man escape the catas
trophe which grows out of his negli
gence. If We believed that by allow
l. ing such an evasion of consequence
We were encouraging carelessnes
! would not practically all accident il
i surance be unlawful on this ground
Z On the side OF the injured employ
IL is not likely TO encourage negl
I gence, any more than life insuranc
; encourages suicide. And 1t is III
/ likely that the employer will be Ell
: couraged to maintain dangerous pr,
n misses or allow dangerous practice
by a law which makes IL inevitabl
that he shall pay for every acciden
; that happens. And II he has shifto
e e the risk to insurance companies, thel
9. rates and regulations will force hiI
e to minimize the danger to employees
\ Burlington Free Press.