Blocking the Courthouse Door: How the Republican Party and Its Corporate Allies Are Taking Away Your Right to Sue

This important book should have received more attention when it was published. Presumably, "tort reform" is just not a sexy enough topic, and even the bright yellow cover and the (presumably intentional) absence of the word "tort" from the title were insufficient. Avoiding legalese almost completely, Mencimer gives an in-depth account of the lobbying and litigation wars over the civil justice system in the past two decades or so. Unlike other commentators, I didn't find this book an unquestioning brief for the trial lawyers. Mencimer makes clear that some trial lawyers can become extraordinarily wealthy and that some baseless and even frivolous suits are filed. Her real point is that some major companies have tried to achieve in the halls of Congress and the state legislatures and in the ballot box what they could not achieve in court. The story of the McDonald's coffee lawsuit has been told elsewhere, but Mencimer goes well beyond this to point out other distortions of the truth that have been made by lobbyists for insurance and other industries.

All of us have heard stories about how the legal system has run amok via multi-million lawsuits over trivial incidents - eg. spilt coffee at McDonald's nets $3 million. Meanwhile, the media and politicians also bring stories of medical cost escalation, and product/service withdrawal due to high liability costs. Something has to be done! Fortunately, "Blocking the Courthouse Door" was written to provide important missing details. Mencimer reviews each of the "outrageous cases," showing how key details had been omitted - eg. the extent of harm, the frequency with which it had occurred previously, how the award had been scaled back, etc. Suddenly the cases are no longer outrageous! Then the book moves on to aggregate data and reveals that, contrary to popular opinion, the frequency and size of suits have been declining; meanwhile, media coverage has increased. Why the "litigation crisis" myth? The movement is an alliance of insurance companies, corporate interests (eg. tobacco and asbestos companies), and political operatives. (The latter group is mostly Republicans, seeing the issue as an opportunity to increase donations from physicians and the involved industries, as well as to squeeze attorneys - a large source of Democratic donations.) Not only are industries concerned about potential lawsuit awards, but also the bad publicity - eg. the public learning how Ford had callously evaluated the cost/benefit of a $5 investment/car to reduce Pinto gas-tank fires. We also learn that issue-ads on the topic are not only intended to sway voters, but jurors as well. Jurors that have seen at least one ad on the "litigation crisis" have been found less likely to make large awards. An excellent eye-opener!

This book presents a very strong argument for the view that the chamber of commerce and the GOP have been working systematically to dismantle the civil justice system. It's very dense with facts and, best of all, features original reporting by the author.

Excellent, well researched and entertaining (in the sense that a horrifying automobile accident fascinates...). The sad part about this book is that the horse is already out of the corral when it comes to the individual's access to a fair and just legal system. The deck has been stacked by near infinite piles of corporate cash but the average citizen has yet to take notice. Perhaps this book can help start the pendulum swinging in the direction of "justice reform."

A very well done work that is both scholary and timely. At odds with the Big Business mainstream's press bite treatment of the subject. Instead the author goes into detail of the family's stories, the lawyers, the congress, the president, the judges, the process, & at last the consequences. After reading this you can't help but wonder WHERE IS THE PRESS? Of course the answear is that they are also the beneficiaries of an ignorant public, as are their brethren: Big Oil, Big Pharmceuticals, Big Banks, Big Automobile/Transpertation,Big Corporations plus the corporation's employees: Big Government(State/Federal). She documents it every step of the way. The book is worth the price alone for the many human tragic dramas that unfold to illustrate the laws as they change to accomadate the wealthy and privileged. The jury trial is now in corp's crosshairs. A sad day in hell for the country's citizens. But on the bright side, it's a great day for the multinational corporations, Bush/crony capitalism, & the GOP.