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Guest Editorial by Dan Lambe,
Executive Director of Texas Watch
The Firestone tire debacle has many Texas
families asking hard questions. What did
Firestone know and when did they know it? How
could it take 46 deaths linked to their tires
before Firestone faced the facts that their
tires could be dangerously defective? How
could a corporation take so long to step up to
the plate to protect their customers? Finding
the answers to these questions poses the first
high-profile test of Texas's
"reformed" civil justice system.
The Texans who lost loved ones in accidents
potentially linked to Firestone tires and
those wondering if they are driving on ticking
time bombs, will probably be surprised to
learn the ways in which Firestone will be able
to evade full accountability to Texas
families. Since 1995, Firestone and other
manufacturing, insurance and chemical
corporations have used laws passed by the
Texas Legislature in the name of "tort
reform" to skirt responsibility and delay
justice. Firestone will likely use those laws
to shield itself from responsibility to
drivers such as the Waco teen whose paralyzing
accident linked to Firestone tires occurred
one year prior to the recall.
This is hardly the first time in recent years
that a corporation valued profits over lives.
Despite history's lessons however, Firestone
did not step up to the plate to protect
families from its dangerously defective
product on its own. It took the pressure of
legal action by families involved in
tire-related wrecks, major retailers and the
federal government to get action from
Firestone.
The next step-holding Firestone accountable if
its tires are defective-will be even harder.
It used to be possible for Texans to send a
convincing message to corporations through our
strong civil justice system. When Ford placed
families in danger in its Pinto cars and the
Dalkon Shield caused birth defects, families
had the tools they needed to hold wrongdoers
accountable for risking lives in the name of
profits.
Unfortunately, due to the lobbying activities
of manufacturers, chemical companies and other
corporate interests, Texas families have lost
many of the consumer legal protections used to
hold irresponsible corporations accountable.
State laws passed at the behest of these
special interests have stripped legal rights
of Texas families who must face corporate
giants like Firestone. For example:
- According to a 1995 law, Firestone would
bear less accountability to the family of
a homemaker killed in an accident linked
to the tires than the corporation would
owe to the family of a businessman with a
high annual salary. The law ties a
corporation's responsibility to an
accident victim's monetary value.
- In another 1995 change, defense lawyers
were given new leeway to drag other
parties into injury lawsuits as part of a
strategy to shift financial responsibility
for the injury costs from the wrongdoer to
the injured person. Under this law,
Firestone could pass expenses on to
innocent drivers or independent retailers.
- Texans who find themselves in financial
disputes with Firestone over tire
replacement costs will find it tougher, or
even impossible, to band together with
others in similar circumstances in a class
action lawsuit thanks to a recent ruling
by the Texas Supreme Court. Instead of
being able to turn to this efficient
avenue to justice, each family may be
forced to battle each hurdle of the courts
on their own against Firestone's
high-priced legal defense teams.
- Punitive damages, assessed by citizen
jurors to punish and deter the worst
examples of corporate misconduct, no
longer send a strong enough message to
prevent future misconduct. In 1995, the
formula for such assessments was severely
curtailed, silencing any message by a jury
that corporations must not value profits
over lives.
The fallout from this massive recall is the
first high-profile test of Texas's fractured
civil justice system. Texas families do not
want-nor do they deserve-such unequal justice.
The outrage of drivers forced to wait weeks
for safe tires will soon be aimed at the
glaring holes in our justice system that has
little teeth to hold the corporation
accountable.
The Firestone tragedy serves as an opportunity
for Texans to re-think the way our legal
system treats Texas families who suffer death
and injury from dangerously defective
products. The upcoming 2001 Legislative
Session offers an opportunity to "just
say no" to the continuing clamor of
self-serving special interests. The time is
right to pay more attention to consumer rights
and stop allowing corporations to shield
themselves from their responsibility to Texas
families.
Texas Watch is a non-partisan statewide
consumer research and advocacy organization
committed to engaging and involving Texas
consumers in the public policy process. Texas
Watch works to represent and involve its 3000
statewide members in the legislative,
regulatory and judicial arenas in Texas.
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