PRESS RELEASE: "DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I SUE."
LAWSUITS BY REP. TOM DELAY AND SEN. RICK
SANTORUM SHOW HYPOCRISY ABOUT CIVIL
JUSTICE SYSTEM
"In a hypocritical case of Do as I say, not as
I sue, two leading proponents of the drive to
strip Americans of their legal rights - Rep.
Tom DeLay (R-TX) and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)
- participated in personal injury lawsuits
filed by their families. ATLA President Todd A.
Smith released the following statement....We
don't resent Rep. DeLay or Sen. Santorum for
seeking justice in the courts. Any fellow human
being has compassion for a family that loses a
father too young, or a woman facing a life of
pain and disability. DeLay and Santorum were
both represented by trial lawyers. For them to
now demagogue against victims and the trial
lawyers who helped their families in order to
further the radical agenda of their corporate
contributors is insulting to the pain and
suffering of victims, including their own family
members.
The Los Angeles Times reported March
27, 2005 that Rep. DeLay's family filed a
lawsuit against two companies responsible for a
faulty machine part the family says caused the
tragic death of the congressman's father. The
case was reportedly settled in 1993 for non-
economic damages (pain and suffering) of
approximately $250,000. According to the Times,
three years after he participated in his family's
lawsuit, DeLay cosponsored a bill specifically
designed to override state laws on product
liability, such as the one cited in his family's
lawsuit. Sen. Santorum testified in his wife's
$500,000 lawsuit in 1999 seeking pain and
suffering damages, filed against a chiropractor
whose care left her with permanent back pain and
permanent numbness in one leg. Both DeLay and
Santorum support a medical malpractice bill
that would hurt every innocent victim of medical
negligence and apply to all cases, no matter
how severe the injury or how horrible the
negligence by the doctor, hospital, insurance
company or nursing home."
ATLA President Todd A. Smith, 03/30/2005
For full press release, go to http://www.atla.org/ConsumerMediaResources/Tier3/press_room/PressReleases/2005Mar30Release.aspx
