Jury Rights

Business and corporate executives, through their highly paid lobbyists, constantly pressure national policymakers to enact legislation favorable to them. These special interests want to limit citizens' access to the courts for recourse if they are injured by defective products made by chemical or drug firms, or if they are the victims of fraud or deception committed by companies such as Enron or Arthur Andersen.

Corporate America's most recently repeated attempt to deny victims remedy in court is another outrageous insurance industry-backed bill. The U.S. House's H.R. 5 (S. 607 in the Senate) was designed to drastically limit the rights of patients seriously injured by medical malpractice, elderly victims of abuse in nursing homes, and others harmed by defective medical products and prescription drugs. Earlier this year, the U.S. House, voting along party lines, narrowly passed H.R. 5, which went to the Senate for further deliberation.

Others want to restrict the role of juries

Proponents of this legislation want to limit the rights of those who are unfairly harmed by preventing juries made up of people like you from hearing injury cases. If passed, the legislation will preempt state law and establish many restrictions—including a $250,000 one-size-fits-all cap on non-economic damages for the most serious life-altering injuries-in health care-related liability actions. As a result, many legitimate cases will never get to court to receive fair hearings by jurors.

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