Greedy Trial Lawyer
Michigan Welcomes Snake Oil
Category: The Latest Baddest
Personal responsibility apparently stops at the front door of drug manufacturers in the State of Michigan. Defective drugs cost all of us but not pharmaceutical companies.
Even before there was a Pottery Barn, there was "The Pottery Barn Rule" - you break it, you buy it. It's a fair rule. It epitomizes personal responsibility by forcing a careless person to pay for the consequences of his or her carelessness. In short, it's just the sort of rule you would think the tort reform lobby would support. Instead, the American Tort Reform Association is trying to save a perverted "You break it, they buy it" rule currently in effect in Michigan.As Henry Greenspan explains in his excellent article, Michigan pharmaceutical companies are completely immune from product liability suits in the state of Michigan. That's not a misprint. The thousands of Michigan citizens who have been injured or killed by fen-phen, Vioxx, and other defective drugs cannot sue the pharmaceutical company that manufactured it. This is so even if the drug is recalled by the manufacturer or the FDA because it's defective! Even if an unquestionably defective drug unquestionably causes the injury or death of a Michigan citizen, the pharmaceutical company is unquestionably immune from suit. The pharmaceuticals don't even have to pay the medical bills of the injured consumer. So if the company that "broke it" doesn't have to "buy it" who does?
Thank you, Justinian.
Snake oil may soon replace automobiles on Michigan's manufacturing list.
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