Byron Dorgan: “If the Senators were building a floor rather than creating a cap, I say, God bless the floor and let us just get rid of…”

“If the Senators were building a floor rather than creating a cap, I say, God bless the floor and let us just get rid of the cap. Let us vote for my amendment and we will solve this. But, let me make two other comments. First, if a company, a large company with vast resources, produces a product or a device that will be used in the field of medicine discovers, during its testing, the product is sufficiently faulty in its operation and it may cause some deaths; if the company fails to disclose that information and the product goes to market and some unsuspecting patient lies on a hospital gurney going into the operating room and dies during a routine procedure and later the family discovers that person died because the product used was faulty and the company knew it, I suppose they would want to bring a lawsuit against the company. In that case, I think society would want that company to be punished sufficiently so that other companies would understand you cannot do that, that kills people; you ought to be punished for it. You ought not get a slap on the wrist, you ought to be punished for it. That is what punitive damage awards are for. The case I just mentioned is a real case, and there are plenty of cases like that. There is not an epidemic of punitive damage awards in this country. It happens rarely because it requires a substantial burden of proof, and we have increased that burden. There is no litigation crisis with respect to punitive damages.”