Maurice Hinchey: “there is no doubt that our legal system can and should be improved. But this measure like so much of the Contract With…”

“there is no doubt that our legal system can and should be improved. But this measure like so much of the Contract With America, goes too far. It is extreme, it is radical and it is unfair. It would deny people their opportunity to go to court to get justice. Let me tell you a story of a person who lives near my district. Alice Hayes, 57 years old, worked on an assembly line all her life, went to work one day in the plastics molding factory, stuck her hands in the machine to remove the plastic mold, and the machine came down on those hands and severed them and her forearms as well. Alice Hayes no longer has her hands and no longer has her forearms; she will never get those hands back. But under the present law in New York, she at least has the opportunity to get justice. Under this bill she will lose both, her hands and the opportunity for justice. This amendment at least provides some opportunity for punitive damages, so that she could be somewhat compensated for the loss that she has sustained. This bill will deny that opportunity. This amendment should be passed. Furthermore, this bill ought to be defeated. There was another instance, an elementary school in Coldenham in which one day the cafeteria wall collapsed and the roof came crashing down on the children in that school. A number of them lost their lives, others were injured. This bill will prevent them from getting the opportunity for justice. The amendment should be passed. The bill should be defeated.”