Political Quotes

“Because many people think this is a debate between the computer and software companies versus the trial lawyers; choose whose side you are going to be on. People forget we are talking about the consumers of the products, the people who buy computers and software. These are businesses, too. These are doctors and manufacturers and retail merchants who rely on computers to work. This bill basically says, if you bought a computer that, it turns out, stops working come January 1 in the year 2000, we are going to limit your ability to recover for wrongdoing by the person who sold it to you. We will limit it. Unlike any other category of defendants in American courts, save one that I can think of, we are going to say this is a special class of people; those who make computers and software are not going to be held accountable like the people who make automobiles, and the folks who make equipment, the folks who make virtually everything in the world, including all of us. Everybody gathered here in this Chamber can be held liable in court for our wrongdoing. If we make a mistake, we can be brought before a jury, and they can decide whether our mistake caused someone damage. This bill says: Wait a minute, special class of Americans here. American corporations that make computers and software shall not be held liable, or at least if they are going to be held liable, under limited circumstances. So the losers in this process are not trial lawyers.…”