Investigative reporter Mencimer, a contributing editor to the Washington Monthly
, takes on tort reformers with an energetic "serve and volley" approach. First Mencimer serves the arguments that proponents of tort reform make to support their agenda—limiting judicial remedies for victims of accidents, product liability suits, medical malpractice suits and the like—and then volleys those arguments back with statistics, anecdotes and conceptual arguments. She guides readers through many of the tort reformers' most cherished poster children of tort system abuse—the McDonald's scalding coffee case, the supposed abuses in medical malpractice and the tort reform movement's bête noire, the diabolical system of punitive damages—and systematically, and usually convincingly, debunks each of them. Mencimer identifies the architects of the tort reform movement as Republicans, corporations and professional groups that stand to gain politically or economically if the tort system is limited. The book's conclusion addresses the larger issue of the wisdom of requiring wrongdoers to pay for the damages from their actions, as opposed to other systems that employ social safety nets to spread the cost of such harm throughout the society. Although the author's advocacy is occasionally too zealous, she provides much food for thought. (Dec. 5)
