Trent Lott: “The ability to have verdicts reach companies--even when companies are not directly involved in the alleged…”

“The ability to have verdicts reach companies--even when companies are not directly involved in the alleged wrongdoing--through the use of joint and several liability is also causing huge problems in the medical malpractice and other fields. Despite the fact that they often have only tangential relationships to alleged wrongdoers, the plaintiffs' lawyers often include companies in lawsuits simply because they have the deep pockets and the companies all too often end up getting stuck having to pay the lion's share of multi-million dollar verdicts even though they actually did very little wrong. I often wonder what government officials and responsible citizens in my State think is going to happen over the long term to companies that are faced with this kind of threat from juries in my State? What do they think is going to happen as the verdicts against doctors continue to go up and the insurance premiums to cover medical malpractice insurance costs continue to go up. They are finding out very quickly as many doctors and other medical providers are literally closing up shop and leaving town. Madam President, this is a very important issue that is affecting health care in America, that is driving up the costs of health care all across America, that is making medical malpractice insurance unaffordable even for doctors, and which is limiting Americans' access to health care. What is the solution? Senator McConnell has the solution in his amendment.…”