Christopher Shays: “Mr. Chairman, 50 States, 50 different State laws affecting interstate commerce, and we have for so long allowed a…”

“Mr. Chairman, 50 States, 50 different State laws affecting interstate commerce, and we have for so long allowed a tremendous ripoff. It blows my mind that we have tolerated this for so many years. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of Common Sense Product Liability and Legal Reform Act of 1995, and I rise in support of the amendment of the gentleman from California [Mr. Cox] and the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Pete Geren] the fair share amendment. It is so simple. It does not take a lot of words, a lot of legalese. The bottom line is so simple. If you are responsible, you should pay your proportionate share of whatever problem you caused, but if you are not responsible, you should not be held liable. When I hear of the outrageous awards that are given to an individual plaintiff, and then I learn of the liability that company had, which was 100 percent, when in fact they only caused 5 or 10 percent of the action, and then I think 'Who pays?' I pay, you pay. We all pay for this outrage. This outrage needs to end. The bottom line is so simple, it is so clear and maybe it is just one has to be an attorney to find it confusing. If you are in fact responsible, you should pay. If you are 50 percent responsible, you should pay 100 percent of your 50 percent. But you should not have to pay when you are not responsible in the vast majority of the cases. I urge my colleagues to vote this amendment and vote this bill.”