This week The Columbian published an excellent article on the principle that government must be accountable legally for the harm it directly causes to its citizens - it is a fundamental principle of our revolutionary history and the American republic.
Here are some good excerpts from the piece Local View: Courts keep failures by state agencies in check, by Jesse Magaña and Jenny Wieland.
"On Dec. 30, The Columbian ran an editorial endorsing special legal protections for state government agencies whose negligent actions or inactions cause harm to citizens. As victims’ representatives, we strongly object to this proposal. The egregious part of this editorial is that it assumes state government gets sued just because it has “deep pockets,” and that somehow jurors see it as an easy target. Any honest assessment of the court system will quickly demonstrate that this is simply wrong."
"Washington already has strong laws against frivolous lawsuits. This ensures that lawsuits are based on solid facts and law or they are dismissed. It is not true, and perhaps deliberately deceptive, to say that government can be liable even when it did nothing wrong."
"Behind the payouts are families and individuals whose lives have been shattered by the reckless or careless actions of the government. And behind these cases are citizen taxpayers who carefully considered the merits and facts of these cases as jurors."
"The concept of providing special protections to negligent government agencies ignores our fundamental concept of checks and balances. "
"We have three separate branches of government for a reason. When government runs amok, our citizens hold the ultimate power of accountability in their hands under our civil justice system. When we provide special protections for the wrongdoer, we victimize innocent victims twice."
Here are some good excerpts from the piece Local View: Courts keep failures by state agencies in check, by Jesse Magaña and Jenny Wieland.
"On Dec. 30, The Columbian ran an editorial endorsing special legal protections for state government agencies whose negligent actions or inactions cause harm to citizens. As victims’ representatives, we strongly object to this proposal. The egregious part of this editorial is that it assumes state government gets sued just because it has “deep pockets,” and that somehow jurors see it as an easy target. Any honest assessment of the court system will quickly demonstrate that this is simply wrong."
"Washington already has strong laws against frivolous lawsuits. This ensures that lawsuits are based on solid facts and law or they are dismissed. It is not true, and perhaps deliberately deceptive, to say that government can be liable even when it did nothing wrong."
"Behind the payouts are families and individuals whose lives have been shattered by the reckless or careless actions of the government. And behind these cases are citizen taxpayers who carefully considered the merits and facts of these cases as jurors."
"The concept of providing special protections to negligent government agencies ignores our fundamental concept of checks and balances. "
"We have three separate branches of government for a reason. When government runs amok, our citizens hold the ultimate power of accountability in their hands under our civil justice system. When we provide special protections for the wrongdoer, we victimize innocent victims twice."
