Class Action Lawsuits and Lawyers

LaFountain, eds., Examining the Work of State Courts, 2001: A National Perspective from the Court Statistics Project (Williamsburg, Va.: National Center for State Courts, 2001), with accompanying spreadsheets available at www.ncsconline.
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Class Action Lawsuits and Lawyers

Moreover, linking injuries to particular injurers (so their premiums can be adjusted to reflect their own track record, as the workers' compensation system does) would be more difficult with torts in general. Nonetheless, given the large percentage differences between the tort liability system and no-fault compensation systems, it seems safe to conclude that the tort system costs more than does an available alternative method of compensating victims. Some types of torts clearly have little impact on deterring injuries; virtually their entire value to society is as a mechanism for compensating victims. Asbestos torts are an example: the injurious actions generally took place decades ago, and asbestos is now in limited use (as a combined result of litigation and government regulation), so today's cases serve no role in deterring additional asbestos injuries.
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Attorneys and Legal Information

Those papers argued that four states do not provide a strong basis for comparison and that punitive damages could be serving their intended purpose of deterring the most egregious torts--which by definition are relatively rare--without having a discernable impact on overall injury rates.(15) Conclusions In short, the current state of data and economic analysis do not allow CBO to judge whether the costs of the tort system are efficient or excessive on the whole.
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