Curmudgeon's Corner
cur-mud-geon: anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner
Liability Laws In Doyleland
Governor Doyle is trying to pay the trial lawyers back for their nearly $250,000 of donations. The best way to do that is to open up the liability laws, and he has proposed just that in the state budget.
This is known as "joint and several liability" and it basically means that you or me could be found just 1% negligent and be exposed to paying 100% of the damages that might be awarded by a jury. This law was changed in 1995 so that a defendant would need to be found at least 51% at fault in order to be required to pay as much as 1005 of the damages.
This will, if it is enacted, raise our automobile insurance significantly, as much as $300 to $400 per year or more according to some insurers. It could drive other businesses such as ski hills out of business completely since they might not even be able to buy the liability protection they would require.
Of course, the governor has not admitted that this is payback, but it sure seems a coincidence that his campaign account grew by so much and then this is "hidden" in the budget bill.
Welcome to Doyleland.
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