Chicago Sun Times
April 29, 2005
www.suntimes.com

Don't let special interests deprive us of right to jury trials
Todd A. Smith

Wouldn't it be nice to have a law that would make negligent corporations, careless developers, drunken drivers and child molesters accountable to ordinary Americans? A law that says when people are harmed, a group of average citizens could carefully examine the facts, and those who were proved to be in the wrong--no matter how powerful--would have to pay for the damage they've caused?

Our nation has just such a law: the Sixth and Seventh Amendments, which guarantee the right to trial by a jury of our fellow citizens. It was enshrined in the Bill of Rights by America's founders, who had no such protections under the heavy fist of British rule....

...The radical changes proposed in the name of "legal reform" would restrict the ability of individuals to hold negligent corporations or manufacturers accountable for causing serious injury, death or financial harm. And that's exactly what Big Business wants...

...You as a juror are not smart enough or sensible enough, say those so called "legal reformers," to hear the case against a doctor whose negligence has resulted in life-altering injury or death....

...Isn't it curious that these special interests who advocate limiting the legal rights of American families have never proposed limiting the legal right of American corporations to file all the lawsuits they want? They want you and your family to be held accountable, but they think they should be above the law....