Jim, here is a snippet from my book Manufacturing Discontent, which relates to your question:
In an effort to cut off this last avenue of redress, corporate interests loudly complain about the excessive costs of litigation. A frequently cited actuarial study prepared by Tillinghast-Towers Perrin indicates that tort costs rose from $67 billion in 1984 to $152 billion in 1994 (United States Congress 1996; citing Tillinghast-Towers Perrin 1995). The press, echoing the corporate public relations machine, often gives the impression that the majority of these cases involve product liability, but Ralph Nader's Public Citizen's Web site reports that this category accounts for only about 400,000 of about 19.7 million civil cases filed annually according to the National Center for State Courts (Conlin 1991; Public Citizen 1998). Michael Rustad, a law professor who reviewed the available empirical studies of product liability cases, reported that each and every one of these studies concluded that punitive damage verdicts are rare (Rustad 1998, p. 54). In addition, he found that "[a] typical defendant in a products liability case is a national corporation, not a small business. The majority of primary defendants assessed punitive damages in medical malpractice cases are corporate defendants such as nursing homes, hospitals or health care organizations" (Rustad 1998, p. 54). -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com
