Date: 1989-08-04
Speaker: DAN MORTH (republican)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. 111 people died in the tragic crash of United Airlines flight 232 in Sioux City. IA. on July 19. The heroic performance of the pilot and crew saved the lives of the 185 survivors. A recent Time article reveals that the aftermath of this crash is anything but heroic. The airline. the aircraft manufacturer and the insurance companies will be embroiled in a legal battle to divide the responsibility of compensating the injured and the estates of those who died. This battle will be fierce. The potential liability for any of these three parties appears limitless. This battle will take years to resolve. The real tragedy in the aftermath of the accident is that victims may not receive fair compensation for their losses. If they choose to litigate. victims should not expect to receive any compensation for years. The article states correctly that plaintiffs lawyers have a financial interest in litigation. One lawyer will collect up to onethird of the damage award his client receives. These lawyers will seek out clients and encourage them to sue. They will claim that litigation is the only way to ensure full compensation. Mr. President. the survivors and the successors in interest of those killed deserve to be compensated. That is not an issue. The issue is whether a victim will receive fair compensation and how quickly the award will be made. I regret that the outcome likely will not be satisfactory for victims. The current tort system is a lottery. The Rand Institute for Civil Justice found that litigation does not compensate aviation accident victims for their economic losses. This means that the tort system does not compensate victims for their medical expenses and lost wages. Victims will not receive this basic compensation. And. they may not receive this unsatisfactory amount for years if they are forced to litigate. Victims often agree to litigate upon being advised that a trial is the only way to win. But. Mr. President. as Time points out. plaintiffs lawyers have a strong financial incentive to litigate. In fact. in 1986. the Rand Institute estimated that twothirds of the damage awards from contingency fee cases go to lawyers. with only onethird going to victims. The tort system grossly overpays those with the smallest losses. One study found that injured plaintiffs with losses between $1 and $1.000 received. on the average. 859 percent of their losses. while those with losses of over $1 million received. on average. 15 percent of their losses. That figure does not include the amount that goes to the lawyers. Another study found that 37 percent of suits for losses resulting from bodily injury are not paid until at least 4 years after they are first reported. A similar study found that. in the cases of the most severe injuries. those in which payment exceeded $100.000. 21.6 percent of claimants waited more than 5 years for payment. Only 2.1 percent were paid less than 1 year after reporting that injury. and 62.6 percent took more than 3 years to be paid. A severe injury likely will leave a victim in desperate financial straits. Lengthy delays in the awarding of compensation add to the costs and burdens for victims. Mr. President. the case for reforming the tort system is clear. Congress has the opportunity to reform the inequities of the civil justice system. Senators KAsTE. INouyE. ROCKEFELLER and I have introduced S. 1400. legislation to reform the patchwork of State products liability laws. Reforming the products liability system by the enactment of S. 1400 will be a good start. I would not stop there. I pupport general tort reform. We should correct the inequities in the tort system which do not treat victims fairly. Victims should be able to recover their economic damages quickly and without seeing a huge percentage of it going to lawyers. Until the tort system is changed. it is victims that will pay the price. I ask that the Time article appear in the RzcoRD.