[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1955-H1956]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PASS PRODUCT LIABILITY REFORM

  (Mrs. NORTHUP asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to include extraneous material.)
  Mrs. NORTHUP. Mr. Speaker, a couple of weeks ago, a number of female 
trial lawyers approached Members of Congress to press the message that 
product liability reform is bad for women
  As the House Committee on Commerce begins to hold hearings on product 
liability reform tomorrow, I want to enter into the Record information 
and documents that show not only is that message false, but it is being 
organized by the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, a group that 
strongly opposes even modest product liability reform.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, there is no group that is more harmed by the 
current product liability laws than women. This is true for two 
reasons. First of all, in terms of health, the fear of lawsuits has 
halted research and kept products off the market that would give many 
women better opportunities and remedies, things like contraceptives, 
breast reconstruction, and other products that are badly needed for 
women's health.
  Second, the majority of newly created small businesses today, for the 
first time, are women owned. There is no group that is more impacted by 
product liability than small business owners. So this system is a 
threat to women who are beginning small businesses.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope for these reasons that we will soon be able to 
consider and pass product liability reform.

                How Product Liability Reform Helps Women

       Federal product liability reform legislation includes 
     modest reforms on key issues of product liability. These 
     reforms will help to solve some of the problems inherent in 
     our current liability system. The reforms apply across the 
     board and do not impact any one group--especially women. 
     Women will benefit in many ways from the enactment of these 
     fair and well-reasoned reforms.


 federal product liability reform will reduce gender bias in research 
                         and product innovation

       Women in America have been deprived of a drug (Bendectin) 
     approved everywhere in the world to prevent morning sickness 
     because of a liability system out of control.
       Contraceptive research is often put on hold due to 
     liability concerns. The Committee for Contraceptive 
     Development, jointly staffed and administered by the National 
     Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, notes that 
     only one major U.S. pharmaceutical company still invests in 
     contraceptive research due to liability concerns. The 
     Committee cited a hostile legal climate as the reason 
     contraceptive manufacturers are abandoning this market.
       Reports published in the New England Journal of Medicine 
     (July 22, 1993) concluded that manufacturers' liability 
     concerns are contributing to the exclusion of women from 
     clinical studies.
       Phyllis Greenberger, Executive Director of the Society for 
     the Advancement of Women's Health Research, testified before 
     the Senate Commerce Committee in the 104th Congress that 
     ``liability concerns are stifling research and development of 
     products for women.''


          product liability reform will help women in business

       Women-owned businesses increased by almost 58 percent from 
     1982-1987 and currently account for 30 percent of all U.S. 
     firms. The U.S. Small Business Administration predicts that 
     women will own 40 percent of all small businesses by the year 
     2000.
       Small businesswomen will run up against the same insurance 
     and liability pressures that face all small businesses. 
     Federal product liability reform legislation will help ease 
     those barriers to commerce and competition.
       In Senate Commerce Committee testimony, Schutt Sporting 
     Group CEO Julie Nimmons--one of two remaining U.S. 
     manufacturers of football helmets--stated: ``our employees 
     hold their breath every time a case goes to the jury, because 
     a runaway award could mean the end of our company.''
       In House testimony, Livernois Engineering Co. President 
     Norma Wallis stated that her company and the entire U.S. 
     machine tool industry as a whole ``is made less competitive 
     by the product liability system.''


 victims of des will be helped, not hurt by federal product liability 
                                 reform

       In over 20 years of litigation, punitive damages have never 
     been awarded in a DES case. In fact, because DES 
     manufacturers have not been shown to have acted in conscious 
     or flagrant disregard of public safety, no judge has even put 
     the question of punitive damages before a jury in a DES case. 
     Consequently, the punitive damages reforms will not have an 
     adverse effect on DES plaintiffs.
       On the other hand, DES victims who discovered their 
     injuries after expiration of their state's statute of 
     limitation would have court house doors opened to them. Under 
     the proposed federal legislation, a woman would have up to 
     two years to file a lawsuit after she discovers or should 
     have discovered both the injury and its cause. Because many 
     effects of pharmaceuticals used by women may not be readily 
     apparent, this provision is especially important in 
     preserving the rights of women to recovery for injuries.


         the proposed bill does not discriminate against women

       Federal product liability reform legislation follows a 
     provision of California law on the topic of joint liability. 
     The provision was voted into California law by over 60 
     percent of those voting in 1986. It has been argued by 
     opponents that the provision is ``anti-women'' because their 
     economic damages may be lower than men and, for that reason, 
     they depend on noneconomic or so-called ``pain and 
     suffering'' damages. However, there has been absolutely no 
     showing in California, a large and litigious state, that the 
     California approach discriminates against any sex or any 
     group. In fact, noted California trial attorney Suzelle Smith 
     has testified that the California law is fair and has worked 
     well for consumers. The California Supreme Court has upheld 
     the California law on equal protection grounds under the 
     California and the United States Constitutions. Nebraska 
     enacted the same reform in 1991 after carefully studying 
     various joint liability reform alternatives.
       Several states have enacted limits on punitive damages and 
     those laws have never been

[[Page H1956]]

     challenged by women's groups because they do not 
     discriminate. The proportionality requirement in the proposed 
     federal legislation is similarly gender-neutral.
       Phyllis Greenberger, Executive Director of the Society for 
     the Advancement of Women's Health Research, testified before 
     the Senate Commerce Committee in the 104th Congress that U.S. 
     companies are shying away from the contraceptive market 
     because of the unpredictable nature of litigation combined 
     with the enormous cost and limited availability of liability 
     insurance.

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