Tort Reform: An Empty Solution

Forget McDonald's and hot coffee. That didn't happen in Tennessee. Yet, somehow we've been told that we need to "reign in" runaway high-dollar verdicts. The facts, however, paint a VERY different picture.

The Tennessee Jury Verdict Reporter compiles a list of jury verdicts for every tort category. It also ingeniously categorizes million-dollar verdicts and averages them over a six year period against the total number of all jury verdicts (regardless of dollar amount) for that same six-year period, giving you a hard percentage of how much million-dollar jury verdicts make up of the total number of jury verdicts.

Between 2005 and 2010, there were a total of 84 jury verdicts for at least $1 million. Care to guess the percentage of all jury verdicts these 84 made up? Come on, just guess!

4.74%. What!

To put it another way, a plaintiff has a mere approximate 1 in 25 chance of obtaining a million-dollar judgment. Yet our legislators consider these odds enough of a threat to spend valuable tax-payers dollars to enact legislation to combat these "crazy" jury verdicts.

More importantly, an overwhelming majority of these 84 million-dollar jury verdicts were a result of a catastrophic death or injury, leaving those fortunate to survive incapacitated or restricted to wheelchairs or bed-ridden for the rest of their lives.

And legislature convincing us that safeguards need to be in place to prevent excess awards was appropriate for what reason? Exactly.