How Does Joint and Several Tort Reform Affect the Rate of Tort Filings? Evidence from the State Courts

The Determinants of State‐level Caps on Punitive Damages: Theory and Evidence

“…However, she did not find any evidence demonstrating that lawyers have “any systematic impact on the frequency of claims filed” (Danzon 1986, 70). Along the same lines, as Lee, Browne, and Schmit (1994, 302–3) maintain, the relationship between the number of attorneys and the number of civil filings is ambiguous 42. As the number of legal service jobs increases, the number of lawsuits should increase,43 but the cost of legal services should also decrease.…”

“…This variable is included to control for the income effect of tort filings. As Danzon (1986) and Lee, Browne, and Schmit (1994) maintain, the opportunity cost to lawyers and plaintiffs is lower during periods of high unemployment, and as a result, increases in the unemployment rate ought to be associated with lower litigation costs. In contrast, the expected cost of accidents decreases as unemployment increases as a customary element of the damage measure for a cause of action in tort is lost wages.…”

Tort Reform and Mass Torts: Tobacco as an Example

“…This may occur when one of the defendants has financial assets to pay for the judgment but the other(s) do(es) not. The history of this doctrine is recorded by Schmit (1989) and evidence of the effect on tort filings of reform of joint and several liability is offered by Lee, Browne and Schmit (1994). Reform is expected to be most effective when financial status of the various defendants is unequal andor when the identification of each defendant's specific contribution to the harm is difficult.…”

The Antecedents of Disputes: Complaining and Claiming

“…Medical malpractice is one area where the filing of lawsuits is probably a reasonably good proxy for claim filing because the overwhelming majority of such claims end up in suit if they survive the initial screening by a lawyer. There is a significant body of research that examines the impact of institutional and political factors on the filing of lawsuits (Lee et al 1994, Di Pietro and Carns 1996, p. 63, Schmit et al 1997, Browne and Puelz 1999, Yates et al 2001, Browne and Schmit 2008, Jacobi 2009, Yates et al 2010. 29 Morris (2007, p. 353) reports that "of over 2,000 reports in the (English) national press since 1993 featuring the term 'compensation culture, all but nineteen of them appeared after 1998.…”