The civil justice system, a significant portion of which includes personal injury, medical malpractice and nursing home negligence claims, is slowly being abolished by federal and state lawmakers through the inclusion of immunity language in statutes affecting these claims. Lawmakers have hidden immunity provisions, the absolute broadest protection afforded to wrongdoers, by burying the language deep in lengthy and complex laws.
The civil justice system, or tort law, is built on four main pillars. The system seeks to:
- 1) Compensate victims for injuries suffered by the negligent action or inaction of others;
- 2) Shift the cost of damages suffered by injuries to the person or persons who are legally responsible for inflicting them;
- 3) Discourage potential wrongdoers from careless and reckless behavior in the future’
- 4) Vindicate the legal rights and interests of those who have been compromised or diminished in some way.
However, all four of these objectives can be swept away by the inclusion of immunity of wrongdoers for the injuries they cause.
As an example, the law provides sweeping immunity from any liability against physicians should they injure an individual while they were working for a state university medical center. While the law does provide limited exceptions to this immunity, the immunity granted is very broad and shields the doctor from any responsibility for the injuries and deaths they directly cause.
Immunity has become the cause celebre of conservative groups as they continue to try to find ways to include this absolute ban from civil liability in areas that ben7th efit their constituencies: big business and the insurance industry. For example, in 2012 a law was introduced in the Ohio legislature seeking complete and absolute immunity for emergency room physicians unless their actions were seen to be completely reckless. In other words, should a law like this pass, the doctors would no longer be held to provide the quality of care they were taught in medical school and in their residencies and could provide medical care that falls well below the basic quality of care we expect of our doctors. If these doctors render substandard care they could not be held accountable as long as their actions were not almost criminally liable.
As the 7th Amendment to the United States Constitution states:
“In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, then according to the rules of the common law.”
This right to trial by jury is being eroded by the passage of immunity laws and the right and access to the courts has been taken away from the average citizen. It is important that each of us continues to examine the laws proposed by our legislators to determine whether they have the individual’s interests in mind or if they hold the interests of those who donate large sums of money to their campaigns in greater esteem than the individuals who live within their districts.
If you or one of your family members has been injured, it is important to determine whether or not your right to recovery is still available or has been taken away by the Ohio legislature or the Supreme Court of Ohio. The attorneys at Plevin & Gallucci can answer your questions and provide guidance through the complex terrain of Ohio civil rights. Contact us for a no-obligation consultation.
