Political Quotes

“I speak in support of the Dole amendment. The comments of the Senator from Utah just given really portray I think in the most thorough way the basic thrust of this amendment and the arguments for it. I will very briefly just add at the margins some information which I think helps to flesh out the arguments that have just been made by the Senator from Utah. As he pointed out, this amendment would extend the product liability punitive damage limitation in the Gorton-Rockefeller bill to be set at two times the economic damages in all civil actions involving interstate commerce. The exception is the civil rights and environmental laws. Therefore, at the margin, this amendment makes the underlying bill even better than it is. Historically, as has been noted, punitive damages were awarded in only the rarest and most egregious cases in order to punish, to make an example of the defendant when that defendant's conduct fell below a certain standard. According to Prof. George Priest of Yale Law School, who has already been quoted here, 65 to 78 percent of all tort actions over the last fiscal year include punitive damages in the pleadings. So what was originally designed to be a recovery in the very most narrow situation has now become part of the pleadings in a majority, even exceeding three-fourths, of the cases. Although punitive damage awards represent a relatively small part of the overall awards, the amount of the average award continues to increase.”