Product Liability "Reform"

The business lobby continuously makes efforts to relieve businesses from their responsibility to compensate victims when bad judgment and greed leads to injury and death of consumers. For years, business has attempted to convince the public that product liability dramatically drives up the cost of products. This argument is patently untrue.

Product liability insurance costs in the United States are a small part of the retail cost of products. If product liability was totally abolished, it would drop retail prices by 26 cents for each $100 of retail sales in this country. Costs do vary somewhat by region, but in no state where data are available do they exceed 31.5 cents per $100 of retail sales.

Six persons per 10,000 in the United States had a claim closed over the last decade. Three persons per 10,000 received any payment for a product injury. Over the last decade, the average number of product liability claims closed per year was 134,209 or about 2,700 per state. The number of victims of product injury collecting payments averaged 54,055 per year or about 1,100 per state.

These facts will not stop the business lobby. It is their goal to deprive citizens to a right to seek redress in the Courts. The only thing on earth they fear is a jury of twelve honest citizens