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Morgan
"Chip" Welch (LEFT) and
Philip Howard debate tort reform at UALR.
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We went over to the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law for a debate on
"tort reform," primarily to see if the special-interest
proponents had finally come up with some reasonable arguments.
They were severely short when a tort-reform bill was before the
legislature last year. (Not that it mattered. The Chamber of
Commerce, the Poultry Federation, the Medical Society et al have
deep pockets, and money beats reason in the Arkansas
legislature.)
Philip K. Howard of
New York, a partner in a big corporate law firm and author of a
couple of books on the failings of the legal system, offered
undocumented accounts of teachers afraid to hug pupils, and
schoolyards denuded of athletic equipment, all because Americans
are paralyzed by fear of being sued. Howard's opponent, Morgan E.
(Chip) Welch, a prominent Little Rock trial lawyer, employed hard
data: Two-thirds of the "litigation explosion" consists
of corporations suing corporations, doctors win 95 percent of
medical negligence lawsuits, tort reform has not lowered insurance
premiums anyplace it's been tried. When an audience member noted
that Howard had only anecdotes, the New Yorker protested that
"anecdotes are important." Facts are more so.
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