>>>>My understanding here is that the largest expenses are in settling claims just to make them go away.
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>>I agree with everything you say. But the man with no $ will not settle to avoid a court case. He has nothing to fear from litigation, because any awards against him simply get added to the pile of unlucky creditors who never will be paid. The legal model depends on the fleas not sucking the dog to death. In this case the dog is hit by a car and it doesn't matter what the flea does now.
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>>Re physicians on other countries: they carry insurance, but not to the same extent. There are a number of reasons, but a big difference is that in other jurisdictions if you lose a court case you are liable for the costs *including legal costs* of the other party. This contrasts with the US in which each party is responsible for its own legal costs except in "extraordinary" circumstances that judges are reluctant to declare. Being liable for your target's legal fees has a sobering effect on frivolous litigation and makes it worthwhile to defend rather than trying to settle.
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>Sounds like a great idea.
Ask Harry Reed, Nancy Pelosi and Obama if they would support that.
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
