The American Spectator

A sympathetic lot, as spectators we casually figure big numbers like $50 million or $100 million in damage are fair compensation for whatever turmoil they’re meant to cure. Still we never stop to think exactly where this money comes from — how the expense of putting a family on easy street is exacted not just from the defendant and their insurance company, but the rest of us.

Higher prices, lost jobs, fewer life-saving drugs, and in this case, a disappearing hospital — these aren’t hidden costs. They’re as real as the impact they have on our lives — and on our pocketbooks. Killing Putnam General won’t make the world more just or medical care more consistent. But it will make life in Putnam County less safe and a handful of people — of lawyers — fabulously wealthy.

br> America’s trial lawyers recognize this, which may be why they’ve been busy polishing their image. Recently, for example, the American Trial Lawyers Association voted to change its name to the American Association for Justice (the Washington Post sarcastically noted that the runner-up choice was “Association for Apple Pie, Motherhood, and the American Way”).

The Shakespeare question notwithstanding, what’s in a name does matter. Across America, trial lawyers have wreaked havoc on state and local economies. Take California, for example. Trial lawyers there have launched securities class-action lawsuits against Silicon Valley, have discouraged job-growth by threatening employment lawsuits, and have suppressed the state’s housing sector with frivolous construction-defect lawsuits. Perhaps California, with its world-class economy, can afford the hassle. Try telling that to West Virginia, which was just ranked 49th by Forbes.com among “best states for business.”

America’s legal system, used properly, can produce marvelous results. But when used improperly by those more interested in cash equities than social inequities, it becomes an impediment to real progress. Look no further than Putnam County, who may one day be looking at a life without local doctors or local emergency care.

Such is the future of America if, left unchecked, “jackpot”-driven trial lawyers are free to treat hospitals as their latest slot machine.