Democrats yield to trial lawyers on terrorism suits

On June 13, by a vote of 50 to 46, the Senate voted to table (kill) an amendment to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (S 2600) offered by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.) that would have essentially protected businesses from having to pay punitive damages because of a terrorist attack. The amendment was supported by President Bush.

McConnell explained that his amendment would in no way deny the victims of terrorism compensation for their injury. "For months now, the Senate has been locked In a debate about whether an American victim of a terrorist attack, whether it Is Watt Disney World, the Mall of America, Giants Stadium, or the Las Vegas MGM Grand, should be held liable for punitive damages," said McConnell. "Remember, punitive damages are intended to punish bad actors.... They are not designed to compensate victims, Nothing In the Republican proposal for a base bill has sought to limit damages to compensate victims."

McConnell's amendment was an attempt to stop unscrupulous lawyers from cashing in by suing business that are the victims of terrorist attacks on behalf of Individuals injured in the attacks. ft would prevent such suits unless the businesses are found guilty of a federal, state or local crime related to the attack.

"We are talking solely about whether American victims of a terrorist attack should be punished not once but twice-attacked first by the terrorists, attacked second by the lawyers," said McConnell.

Every Senate Republican who voted was against making innocent victims of terrorism liable to pay punitive damages for attacks they could not control or anticipate.

Senate Democrats, on the other hand, bowed to the wishes of the trial lawyer lobby. Apparently believing businesses don't want to protect themselves, Democrats argued that unless a business knows it can be sued in the event of a terrorist attack, it might not provide adequate security against potential incidents.

"Restricting damages against the wrongdoer in civil actions Involving personal injury or death, for example, could discourage corporations from taking the necessary precautions to prevent loss of life or limb in a future terrorist attack," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.).

Amazingly, Leahy was referring to potential business victims of terrorists as "wrongdoers."

A "yes" vote to table (kill) the amendment was, in effect, a vote in favor of making businesses that are victims of terrorism liable to law suits for punitive damages even if they were not declared criminally culpable by any court. A "no" vote to table was, in effect, a vote protecting victims of terrorism from being sued fqr punitive damages unless convicted of an offense related to the plaintiff's Injuries.

FOR THE MOTION TO TABLE (50)

DEMOCRATS FOR (50): Akaka, Baucus, Bayh, Biden, Bingaman, Boxer, Breaux, Byrd, Cantwell, Carnahan, Career, Cleland, Clinton, Conrad, Corzine, Daschle, Dayton, Dodd, Dorgan, Durbin, Edwards, Feingold, Feinstein, Graham, Harkin, Hollings, Inouye, Johnson, Kennedy, Kerry, Kohl, Landrieu, Leahy, Levin, Lieberman, Lincoln, Mikulski, Miller, Murray, Nelson (Fla.), Nelson (Neb.), Reed (R.I.), Reid (Nev.), Rockefeller, Sarbanes, Schumer, Stabenow, Torricelli, Wellstone and Wyden.

AGAINST THE MOTION TO TABLE (46)

REPUBLICANS AGAINST (46): Allard, Allen, Bennett, Bond, Brownback, Bunning, Bums, Campbell, Cochran, Collins, Craig, DeWine, Domenici, Ensign, Enzi, Fitzgerald, Frist, Gramm, Grassley, Gregg, Hagel, Hatch, Hutchinson (Ark.), Hutchison (Tex.), Inhofe, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, McCain, McConnell, Murkowski, Nickles, Roberts, Santorum, Sessions, Shelby, Smith (N.H.), Smith (Ore.), Snowe, Specter, Stevens, Thomas, Thompson, Thurmond, Voinovich and Warner.

NOT VOTING (4): Chafee, Crapo, Helms and Jeffords.

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Jul 1, 2002
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