The Rights of Injured Ohio Citizens Taken Away by the Insurance Industry and Big Business
CLEVELAND OH. People in Ohio have had their rights taken away for years, but don’t realize it until they or a loved one are the tragic victims of a negligent driver, medical error, an understaffed nursing home, a lazy landlord, or some other person. , corporation or entity that causes you serious injury, damage or the death of a loved one.
For over a hundred years in Ohio, when a person was injured by someone else’s negligence or carelessness, they had the almost absolute right to file a lawsuit, go to court, and have a jury decide not only whether the defendant was responsible of their injuries, but in what amount that victim (plaintiff) should be compensated. This system worked well from the 1800s until the 1990s, when the “lawsuit crisis” was invented and insurance companies, industry, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies started the “liability reform” movement. “in the 1990s.
Several “liability reform” laws have been passed in Ohio over the past 20 years. Through the successful marketing, financing, and cooperation of big business, the pharmaceutical industry, and big insurers, these industries came together to falsely convince the voting public that there was a “litigation crisis” in Ohio and throughout the United States. United and trial lawyers, renegade judges, and the jury system that had been in place since the days of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton and even envisioned in the Declaration of Independence had to be stopped.
This campaign, although disingenuous and unsupported by almost all objective research, resonated with the voting public and “tort reform” was born (See: http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/20082) Because of this successful disinformation campaign, all too often now I have to sit down in front of prospective clients who have lost their wife or mother to a drunk driver or parents who have lost their child to a medical error and explain that they have had their ability to recover compensation or severely limited due to recently passed laws that limit recovery for victims of negligence.
What people don’t seem to understand when they jump on the “liability reform” bandwagon is that if the corporation, pharmaceutical manufacturer, or nursing home is not liable for the injuries, damages, and/or wrongful death they have caused , that burden ultimately falls on the taxpayer to pay for this victim’s medical bills, living expenses, and lost wages through taxpayer-funded public programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Doesn’t it make more sense to hold these wrongdoers accountable for all the harm they’ve caused rather than taxpayers to care for the victims?
Due to the success of these various laws limiting or completely eliminating a person’s ability to obtain compensation, insurance companies through their insurance attorneys have become emboldened and fight, delay, defend, or ultimately deny virtually all compensation claims filed against its policyholders. Without a top injury attorney on your side, you don’t stand a chance.
