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Legal Process Reform
Eliminate Joint and Several Liability
Joint and several liability allows each and every defendant in a tort lawsuit to be at risk for the entire amount of the plaintiff’s damage claims. No matter how much each defendant is at fault. So the lawyer searches for a defendant or defendants with deep pockets so as to maximize his client’s and his own financial gain.
Support of this process in and of itself provides a clear illustration of a lawyer’s absence of a sense of fairness and justice. Of right and wrong. From their viewpoint one is liable if he has assets, not if in fact he is responsible for the problem.
Common sense suggests that one should only be responsible for that portion of the damages caused by ones own negligence. This common sense is known as proportionate liability.
Many states have modified joint and several liability to reflect this. For example, in New York, a party who is less than 50% at fault will not be subject to joint and several liability. California retained joint and several liability for economic damage only, requiring that damages for pain and suffering be paid according to fault.
The American Tort Reform Association—among America’s premier legal reform groups—reviews how different states have handled the abolition or modification of this rule:
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