Political Quotes

“Just an aside, but very relevant to your point, as you know, I have practiced law for the last 12 years in the State of Maryland and I have seen one practice occur time and time again. And that practice is, in a run-of-the-mill tort case, personal injury case, a punitive damage count is included, even where there is no evidence of punitive damages. Now, the opposition told America last week, there are not that many punitive damage judgments. The Republicans have a strident and ridiculous remedy for a problem that is not that large. We can count on the fingers of one hand how many punitive damage judgments were paid out in a particular jurisdiction. But that is missing the point. That is missing the point, because the fact that those punitive damage counts are included in complaints drives up the settlement value of cases. Most cases, as the gentleman is well aware of, never go to trial, but the insurance company, the carrier, has to value a case, even a garbage case, at a higher figure because of the presence of a punitive damage count. Result, higher settlement. Result, cost passed on to consumer. Result, higher prices. Result, we got a big problem in this country.”