Not long ago the U.S. Senate refused to accept an amendment to the stimulus bill by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) that would have reformed some CPSIA provisions and delayed the implementation of others. Last night it rejected a similar DeMint effort in the form of a budget amendment, and this time there was a roll call, which confirmed that the rejection was largely along party lines: every Democrat voted against the measure except for Sens. Mark Begich (Alaska), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), and Ben Nelson (Neb.), while every Republican voted in favor except Susan Collins (Maine), John Cornyn (Tex.), Mike Johanns (Neb.), Mel Martinez (Fla.), and John McCain (Ariz.). Independent Bernie Sanders (Vt.) voted against, while Sens. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) did not vote.

Following Wednesday’s rally on Capitol Hill, small business people who fanned out to visit their Senators brought back many encouraging-sounding stories of the favorable “We hear you!” “We get it!” reactions they had received visiting the offices of Democratic Senators like Roland Burris (Ill.), Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.), and Charles Schumer (N.Y.). Whether or not anyone in those offices hears or gets the outcry, it sounds as if the members even more clearly hear and get a different message: that of party discipline.

Kimberly Payne feels oddly hopeful: “The original vote on the CPSIA was nearly unanimous – this one was 39-58. I call that progress!”

The WSJ editorializes on the law again today, its third, concentrating this time on the youth motorcycle/ATV ban. More: Montana senators fiddle while small businesses perish (Mark Riffey, Flathead Beacon); the rally and the Democrats (Rick Woldenberg).

Public domain image: Yankee Mother Goose (1902), illustrator Ella S. Brison, courtesy ChildrensLibrary.org.

Senate rejects CPSIA reform on budget vote, 39-58 is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“[U]nlimited damages … could have a significant impact on state and local budgets, since government entities are not infrequently named as defendants in wrongful death suits, and there are similar concerns as the State undertakes efforts to attract and grow businesses here.”

“Unfortunately, I do not believe that this bill in its current form strikes a fair balance that would avoid using a strict monetary valuation of a person’s life while also addressing the adverse effect of allowing unlimited and unpredictable damages.”

He urged the Legislature to consider alternatives “granting more flexibility for courts to reduce excessive non-pecuniary damage awards and defining non-pecuniary damages less expansively.”

[NJ Law Journal/law.com; earlier: Jan. 9]

Corzine vetoes unlimited noneconomic damages is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“A salesman, selling other people’s troubles” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

One thing I didn’t mention in the article that is on topic for this site is that Lieberman is one of the few prominent federal Democrats still in office that is generally willing to stand up to the trial bar. If Lamont does supplant Lieberman, the trial-lawyer takeover of the Democratic party (commented on a year ago by Walter) will be all but complete.

Update: Walter reminds me of his 2000 Wall Street Journal op-ed on Lieberman’s record on liability reform.

“The Lieberman Purge” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Conversation at NYU’s Brennan Center tomorrow is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

It is easiest to judge the senators in the race, because there have been three major tort reform bills in the Senate in the last ten years: the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (which passed); the Common Sense Product Liability Reform Act of 1996 (which was vetoed); and the Class Action Fairness Act of this year (which, so far, has been filibustered by 39 Democrats).

As a senator, Joe Lieberman was one of the most prominent Democrats in support of tort reform, including voting for cloture in the debate over the Class Action Fairness Act. On September 11, 2000, his spokesman, Dan Gerstein, told the Wall Street Journal that the tort system “drives up costs, stifles innovation, limits products available to consumers and undercuts the competitive advantage our leading companies have.” Lieberman was on the correct side on the PSLRA and the product liability bill; we earlier reviewed his promising record when he was named to the 2000 Gore ticket (Aug. 8, 2000). His presidential campaign web site, however, makes no mention of the issue.

Senator John Kerry voted for the PSLRA, but against the 1996 product liability reform bill, and absented himself from the cloture vote on the Class Action Fairness Act. Earlier this year, we noted that Kerry spoke at the ATLA convention (Aug. 25) and opposed a Senate effort to require tobacco attorneys to return moneys above $2500/hour that they earned representing state governments in the tobacco settlement (May 9). There is no mention of tort reform on his presidential campaign web site.

Senator John Edwards, of course, made his name as a plaintiffs’ lawyer; trial lawyers are notably among his leading supporters (Apr. 7). He was not in the Senate in 1995-96, but this web site has previously documented Edwards’s opposition to tort reform since he was named to the Gore short-list of VP candidates in 2000 (see also Sep. 16). Sen. Edwards defended the tort system in Newsweek a few weeks back (Dec. 8). We can safely assume he would oppose tort reform.

General Wesley Clark’s web site does not seem to mention tort reform (there is no search engine on the site that would permit us to confirm this), but he has called for an expansion of the ability to sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In 1985, Rep. Dick Gephardt made a mild proposal for tort reform in the medical malpractice suits that would make it harder to obtain non-economic damages if the plaintiff refused to accept a settlement for economic damages; in 2000, he criticized an OSHA attempt to regulate home offices of employees. Gephardt’s campaign has extensively criticized Dean’s record as governor (such as Dean’s 1993 support of NAFTA), but has yet to mention his position on tort reform. There is no mention on Gephardt’s web site of tort reform issues.

Democratic candidates and tort reform is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

New vs. Old Democrats on class actions is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system