Tort Reform Expanded to Include Truck Drivers

Legislation has just been introduced in the Congress to expand the Republican’s proposed medical malpractice tort reform legislation to include protection for truck drivers. “If it’s good for doctors, it’s good for truck drivers too” the Teamsters Union stated in a Press Release.

A Teamster Union funded study concluded that the cost of liability insurance for truck drivers and the cost to defend truck drivers against claims by those they have negligently injured are the primary reason for the skyrocketing cost of transporting durable goods. If those costs could be eliminated, the retail cost of durable goods that are essential in every home such as washers, dryers, refrigerators and furniture would be dramatically reduced, the Teamster study concludes.

Moreover, according to Teamster’s spokesperson, Mr. Otto Mieway, there is a hidden additional cost as a result of the litigation over truck accidents, just like there is in medical malpractice litigation. “Our member truck drivers regularly engage in the practice of defensive driving because of the fear of law suits”, said Mr. Mieway during his appearance before a Congressional Committee. As he explained, “Truck drivers are travelling at the posted speed limits instead of going 20 miles per hour faster; they’re staying in the right hand lane instead of passing on hills, they’re taking safer routes to get to their destinations even though it wastes time, and they’re even stopping to sleep rather than driving straight through for 24 hours like they’re suppose to do.”

As with medical malpractice tort reform, truck driver reform’s central feature is a limit on the amount of compensation persons injured by negligent truck drivers can received for their injuries. As Otto Miway sardonically noted:
“If a person is seriously injured because of a truck driver’s negligence so that they should normally receive $1,000,000 in damages for their injuries, and we can arbitrarily limit their recovery to only $250,000 like they want to do for doctors, we have just saved the trucking industry $750,000. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak, whether you’re talking doctors or truck drivers, and the Teamsters Union wants in.”

Mr. Mieway concluded his remarks to Congress by noting the similarity between persons injured by medical negligence and those injured by truck driver negligence. “When an obstetrician screws up, it usually means a little baby is seriously injured. When a truck driver drives his semi into a car, it usually means pretty bad things are going to happen to the people in that car. You put limits on damages in cases involving truck driver negligence, you’re talking big buck savings, just like in medical malpractice cases. What possibly could be wrong with that scenario?”