Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Liability is about making the injured party whole: sounds fair & egalitarian, I feel sorry for injured people. But what if the injured party is struck by lightening? What if the responsible party is not insured & has no money? What if the injured party causes their own injury? People have terribly disappointing & debilitating things happen to them all the time: they could lose a foot due to diabetes, or their mother dies in a car accident; they could get leukemia, or their child may need special help; there may be a hurricane, or the love of their life doesn't love them anymore. Almost all disappointments have no monetary remuneration, and to turn disability, mental or physical, into a jackpot makes us a nation of erstwhile victims.

Also, the single biggest cause of irrational business decisions is the threat of liability litigation. Liability: civil lawsuits aimed at transferring money from those deemed “perpetrators” to those deemed “victims” causes the most egregious distortions of rational behavior. All because of stifling blame, accusations, lawsuits, and the emotional distress instigated by liability. Liability is like a singularity in space that causes everything else to distort around it. How many scientific advancements are not made? How many playgrounds, theaters, and public venues are not available? How many services are not rendered? What business concepts are abandoned out of frustration simply because there is a nebulous threat of liability? Liability must change dramatically. Once again, like universal healthcare, Britain shows us the way: award caps, loser pays, no jury trials in Civil court, and no contingency fees.