When are Greg Thomas and the out-of-state, corporate billionaires signing his paycheck going to stop their ruthless, unrelenting attack on West Virginians and our constitutional rights, and admit the truth?
For well over a decade, West Virginia has been inundated with lobbyists for out-of-state, multinational corporations and insurance companies whose sole objective is to avoid responsibility and deny legitimate claims to pad profits. At every turn, they have sought to convince our legislature that global corporations should have no responsibility for the damage they cause while they amass their billions on the backs of our citizens. And they’ve won.
We hold the Constitution dear in this state, and the Constitution stands for justice. Whether you’re a coal miner injured on the job, a family devastated after an accident with a semi, or a small business owner battling unfair corporate practices, you have the right to a jury trial. We trust juries to decide the guilt or innocence of our citizens, and the 7th Amendment requires that juries make decisions on civil justice as well. It is only in our courtrooms that a citizen is equal to the richest individuals, most powerful corporations, and even the government itself.
The American Tort Reform Association and so-called “Citizens” Against Lawsuit Abuse want to take that away from you. These are front organizations for big insurance and global corporations who know they can pad their profits by denying claims. They’ve been winning with an almost undefeated record, ransacking your right to civil justice.
Caps on damages mean that bad doctors can practice with relative immunity, knowing that regardless of how horrible the outcomes are, their insurance won’t have to cover all the cost when they permanently maim or injure a child patient.
On two separate occasions in the last 10 years, they have sought to strip workers of their right to seek justice. First seeking to limit claims against employers who knowingly and intentionally expose our people to illegal and dangerous conditions and then seeking to limit their recovery, regardless of the damage caused by the employer.
Joint and several liability has been abolished, making it that much harder to recover legitimate claims from insurance companies. Justice for our neglected loved ones injured in nursing homes is that much harder to come by. Punitive damages have been capped at such a low sum that their purpose — to deter illegal and harmful acts — is now almost impossible to realize.
No one in the legal community ever claimed we needed an Intermediate Court of Appeals, but the lobbyists got their wish on that one too, solely as a means to slow down any case that you may bring. Did you win your trial? Well, now the corporations get to drag your case through a lengthy appeal not once, but twice.
In every instance, from consumer protection to tractor trailer accidents, insurance companies, global corporations, and their lobbyists have won, and our fundamental rights have suffered for their profit margins. Their bills have been passed since 2003, but what new jobs did they create?
They keep claiming “this is the bill that will do it” — but then it never does. All these bad laws have done is left citizens powerless, taken money out of West Virginia, and padded the pockets of insurance executives and CEOs.
It’s never enough. Every time the Legislature passes one of their bills, they come back for more. Every year the “magic pill” claims get more ridiculous, and this year is no exception. They’re now claiming that their proposals will increase workforce participation (how?), improve public education test scores (really?), and (wait for it!) help us lose weight and be healthier. Tort reform does nothing to improve our schools, educate our workers, pave our roads, increase Internet access, bring jobs or make us thinner.
Our lawmakers are smart enough to recognize that eroding our constitutional right to civil justice is a determent to growth, not a magic pill. No ATRA or CALA bill has ever created a single job beyond giving their lobbyists paychecks.
We’re hurting in this state. According to Governor Patrick Morrisey, we’re $400 million in the red. Tort reform seeks to exacerbate that pain. Let’s focus on actual success: fixing education, building infrastructure, and making our state the kind of place people want to raise a family.
That success fundamentally depends on public confidence in the ability to hold wrongdoers accountable. We may not have much civil justice left in this state, so let’s protect ourselves and what we have left instead of some lobbyist’s paycheck.
Broadwater is the president of the West Virginia Association for Justice. His practice, Broadwater Law Group, is located in Oak Hill.