In a message dated 9/29/2003 6:05:40 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
soavero@yahoo.com writes:
> This year, we were sued something like 39 times for
> various reasons (workman's comp, wrongful dismaissal,
> etc.). We settled -0- times. We went to court -0-
> times. It cost us over $20,000 in legal fees PER
> instance. Shakespeare had a comment about this, I
> think.
It seems part of the national health care crisis, and yes I believe there is a
big one, and no, I do not think Hillary is the answer....anyway, part of the
problem is the prohibitive cost of malpractice insurance for doctors. Doctors
are either leaving states with no tort reform, or leaving the profession all
together.
Texas just passed a law limiting court settlements for malpractice (and some
other things) to $250,000.00. Obviously, the doctors were all for this and the
lawyers fought it tooth and nail.
One ad that ran was a poor lady that lost her daughter in a robbery of a donut
shop. The robbers shot everyone in the shop. She, the mom, pleaded with the
public not to limit the ability to sue in case of murder. Anyone think she was
suing the murderer? Or did she sue the donut shop. Nothing will bring her
daughter back, and I am fairly certain the donut shop did not have a
"murderer's welcome" sign on the front door.
Everyone cries "big business" and I certainly am no fan of the Enron guys, but
every time we go after "big" business, the little guys get hit too. The
company I work for does about $30M a year in business, and we will be lucky to
have a net before taxes of 4%. A million and two in returns you say? Not bad!
But when you figure the owners had to invest some 60-70 million in land and
equipment to make that return, and will then of course pay taxes on it and then
split it among the stock holders...it's really nothing to get excited about.
My boss, one of the owners, takes two vacations a year, for about 3 days each,
and drives a 93 Bronco.
Oh...and as an aside...in Mexico, in the small villages, it is not an uncommon
practice to extract teeth with a gun...leading to several un-intentional
suicides each year.
Robert Houston
Transervicios S.A. de C.V.
915-592-2082
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