Mike Thompson: “Well, the Senator was talking about punitive damages, and that is the subject of my question. And then the clinic sought…”

“Well, the Senator was talking about punitive damages, and that is the subject of my question. And then the clinic sought to cover up. Finally, one of them called 911. They did several things totally, totally that would constitute gross misconduct. They finally called 911, and then tried to cover up the records. They were caught. A lawyer represented them, charged 30 percent, incidentally, financed the litigation out of his own pocket for 2 years because the plaintiffs did not have the money to do that. Finally, they got to court. The defense, the insurance company, would not settle the case until they got to court. The mother broke down in court and they found out what they were up against in there and settled the case for $3 million. Under this legislation, if this passed, I wonder what the Senator would tell that sobbing mother who was in my office last week in terms of whether or not we ought to tell the State of Tennessee they cannot allow a jury in Tennessee any longer to make that kind of award in a punitive damage case.”