john stossel
Stossel Makes a Jab at Personal Injury Lawyers
In a recent segment on the Fox Business Channel, John Stossel, co-anchor of “20/20” on ABC News, stated, “For every person lawyers help, they hurt thousands more.” He is referring here to torts. A tort is a civil suit brought against a defendant for wrongdoing (such as damage, injury, or failure to act) that is done willfully, negligently, or in circumstances where the perpetrator is held to strict liability standards. Commonly, tort lawyers are known as personal injury attorneys. In Mr. Stossel’s opinion, lawyers who practice tort litigation are destroying America with “frivolous lawsuits.” He claims that such lawsuits cost the American people billions of dollars each year.
While there may be some “bad apples” that give legitimate personal injury lawyers a bad reputation, the majority of these attorneys are proving important services to clients in need, as well as the general public. For example, without lawsuits, big businesses would be free to harm and deceive the public without fear of consequences. These lawsuits have protected consumers and saved lives. Government regulation is often not enough to protect the public, but those rules combined with the financial and reputation costs of litigation keep companies responsible for making quality products with high safety standards. When individuals bring a tort suit against a doctor or a business, they are simply standing up for their legal rights when they have been treated unacceptably. The frivolous lawsuits that Mr. Stossel talks about are a rare occurrence when compared with the number of legitimate suits that often are of public benefit.
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