Another Tort Reform Phony Cashes In
Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 645
One of the more prominent tort reform advocates over the years has been Judge Robert H. Bork.
Judge Bork serviced as solicitor general and is acting Attorney General in the 1970s. He was later a federal appeals judge in Washington and was a strong contender for the United States Supreme Court. However, in 1987 the Senate failed to confirm his nomination to the Supreme Court.
Judge Bork has never been a friend of consumers especially those who have been victims of corporate abuse or wrongdoing.
Judge Bork recently settled his own million dollar slip and fall lawsuit.
Although the good judge was an outspoken proponent of tort reform which seeks to limit the rights of ordinary citizens to fair compensation, he did not hesitate to stick out his hand and cash in on the civil justice system he so strongly opposes.
In his complaint Judge Bork asked for punitive damages for the failure of the Yale Club to provide appropriate hand rails. In North Carolina such a complaint would barely get to the jury on the allegations of negligence. The punitive damages claim would be thrown out in a "New York minute". Surely, Judge Bork and his "silk stocking" lawyers knew that he did not have a legitimate punitive damages claim.
Could it be that Judge Bork filed a uhummm... frivolous lawsuit ?
Judge Bork’s lawsuit against the Yale Club arose after he fell stepping onto the platform to speak. The judge said that the Yale Club was negligent for not having stairs or a handrail leading up to the platform. He claimed that he suffered “excruciating pain” after he fell backwards as he tried to climb out of the dais and struck his left leg on the side of the dais and his head on a heat register. He underwent surgery and physical therapy and claims that he was left with a limp and is required to use a cane.
In defense of the lawsuit, the Yale Club said that Judge Bork was himself negligent because he failed to recognize the potential risk which the club said were “open, obvious and apparent.”
In North Carolina, because of our draconian contributory negligence rule, if Judge Bork was himself negligent, his case would be thrown out.
Some of Judge Bork’s ideological cohorts would say that Judge Bork did file a “frivolous lawsuit.”
Judge Bork has joined a long list of tort reform phonies including the current President Bush who condemn are civil justice system, but do not hesitate to use the system for their own self-interest.