Is the phrase, a government “of the people, by the people, for the people” in the constitution? Popular belief is yes, but it is not actually in the constitution. Rather, this phrase comes from President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. It is probably a concept that should have been incorporated into the constitution and certainly Lincoln included it to remind citizens that it is their country. I think politicians, and even some of us, forget that it is OUR government and the politicians are OUR employees; they are supposed to be working in OUR best interests.

Business interests are fond of complaining about the jury system and regularly claim that it is “broken”, it needs to be “fixed”. Perhaps the best word is, in fact, “fixed”; they would like to fix the civil justice system so that it can be better influenced in their direction. Should we hold it against them because they work to achieve an unfair playing field? We should not hate Big Corporations for this, but should we allow them to achieve it? Absolutely not!

I think the jury system our founding fathers borrowed from English common law works just fine in protecting the rights of individual citizens. Frankly, I want six of my fellow citizens sitting and listening to evidence in my case. I want six regular people considering what makes sense and what does not make sense. I do not want a special panel appointed to hear my case, as has been promoted by many business “political parrots”. I do not want the government inserting itself into the civil justice system anymore than they already do. I trust an impartial panel of my fellow citizens to fairly weigh the evidence and reach a decision that makes sense.

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News of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis and the mine failures in Utah are just the most recent reminders that issues of safety and accountability affect us all. Corporations with a profit motive have often and consistently acted like those profits were more important than the lives of the people we love. This has played itself out in an ominous fashion over the past 10 years as we’ve seen a coordinated effort by corporate interests to limit, or in some cases eliminate, your individual right to a jury trial. During that time those same corporations have made no effort to limit their own access to the courts.

Recently we’ve also seen the case of Melenna Del Valle who was killed in the interstate 90 tunnel collapse in Boston. In that matter the National Transportation Safety Board has just reported that the failure related to the design and materials utilized in the construction. The finding has brought forth a criminal indictment of at least one firm involved in the project. Unfortunately the criminal statute provides for only a $1,000 dollar penalty. I think most would agree that this is insufficient to inspire accountability or a change of heart on the part of a major corporation.

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It has been done in Mississippi, Florida, and in New Brunswick, Canada. Governmental bodies have finally realized that if they have a cause of action, involving complex litigation, why pay exorbitant hourly fees? Instead, why not hire plaintiff oriented firms who are skilled in working under contingent fee arrangements? Why not let the law firms undertake the risk of the loss of fees and, in some cases, the costs as well?

As Attorney David Lowe points out in a recent blog posting, the only people apparently squawking about this favorable approach to complex litigation for governments is the defense bar. Oh, and President Bush apparently thinks it is a bad idea; since he issued an executive order in May that bans governmental agencies from hiring private lawyers on a contingency fee basis.

Let’s be fair and try to analyze motivations in an objective light.

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Every time voters are asked to consider a referendum that limits citizens’ constitutional rights to seek justice from wrongdoers, the same catchy phrase echoes the airwaves: “Stop frivolous lawsuits!”

Well, who wouldn’t buy that? “Frivolous” has little weight or importance, has no sound basis, lacks seriousness. Paris Hilton is frivolous. But how can someone whose family has been obliterated in a fiery crash caused by a drunk driver, or whose loved one has been maimed by a surgeon’s scalpel, be called frivolous?

The point, claim so-called tort reform advocates, is that too many frivolous lawsuits are clogging the court system. Worse, frivolous jurors – apparently unaware of the unserious and insubstantial nature of death and injury – are handing out billions of dollars to undeserving plaintiffs.

Au contraire. It just isn’t so.

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When a Denver, Colorado jury convicted former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio on 19 counts of securities fraud, prosecutor Colleen Conry did not mince words: “If you don’t tell, you can’t sell.”

It’s about time.

The American public’s eyes glaze over as the evening news reports yet another multi-billion dollar scam where a corporate CEO, wallowing in the most lavish perks, is charged with hoodwinking investors. The Rogues Gallery is impressive: Tyco tycoon L. Dennis Kozlowski, Cendant Chair Walter Forbes, WorldCom Bernard Ebbers, and, of course, Enron’s Ken Lay. (We can throw in Martha Stewart’s troubles over ImClone stock, just to demonstrate that securities fraud is an equal opportunity activity.)

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