Editorial - January 2003

Edwards should favor caps on jury awards

January 8, 2003 - As N.C. Sen. John Edwards embarks on his presidential campaign, he should be prepared for criticisms that are certain to arise about his station in life. He has already heard discouraging remarks about his inexperience in office. He can move beyond that, as many have done before him. Edwards will have about the same time in politics as President Bush had when he ran in 2000. In fact, American voters have often shown a tendency to elect someone not of the Washington D.C. political establishment (Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton).

Another criticism he will face is his career as a personal injury lawyer. On the surface, there’s certainly nothing wrong with a successful career as a defense lawyer, but it might serve him well to take a position in favor of putting limits on jury awards that have become so high in some areas that physicians can’t afford to pay malpractice insurance. Just recently physicians in West Virginia boycotted area hospitals to protest the high premiums.

Edwards’ current response to the call for jury caps is that the high costs are not prompted by large jury awards, but by falling investment profits in the insurance industry brought on by the low-performing stock market. That could be a factor, but it doesn’t take much research to see a lottery mentality among some juries in certain parts of the nation that are forcing up malpractice insurance premiums. The state of California has already shown that insurance costs will not be excessive if caps are placed on punitive awards.

Edwards portrays his courtroom success as a championship of the ordinary citizen. In fact, that’s a theme of his campaign. But ordinary citizens are not served by huge jury awards that ultimately weaken the health system that is so important to them.

American voters will judge Edwards on a variety of his views and his public performance on the campaign trail. He doesn’t have near the experience in Washington as Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts or Democratic leader Dick Gephardt, both of whom are considering their own presidential bids. But Edwards is not apologizing for his short tenure.

“If the American people want a life-long politician in the White House, that’s not me,” he said.

His life to date is a success story, though it wasn’t made in Washington. He came from humble beginnings (the son of a textile worker) and pursued a very successful career in law. Along the way he dealt with average Americans in North Carolina, whose values he now seeks to represent.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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