[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.
____________________