Table of Contents:

• McDonald Hot Coffee Lawsuit and Beyond: The Tort Reform Myth Machine
• The Fake Crisis over Lawsuits: Who's Paying to Keep the Myths Alive?
• Tire Failures Drive RV Lawsuits

McDonald Hot Coffee Lawsuit and Beyond: The Tort Reform Myth Machine

Perhaps you saw the Seinfeld episode in which lawyer Jackie Chiles encourages Kramer to sue over a cup of hot coffee. The show was a comic take on the reported $2.7 million awarded to a woman who had sued McDonalds. Elaine's reaction to Kramer mirrored what most people were saying, "Who ever heard of this anyway? Suing a company because their coffee is too hot? Coffee is supposed to be hot." Of course Kramer, replies, "Yeah, but Jackie says the top was faulty." Read more

The Fake Crisis over Lawsuits: Who's Paying to Keep the Myths Alive?

Over the past two years, the average media consumer would be under the impression that the nation is awash with lawsuits, greedy trial lawyers and out of control juries eager to punish corporate America with million-dollar verdicts. The airwaves and newspapers have been flooded with hundreds of stories on the legal system, with common references to the justice system as a lottery for the undeserving and most lawsuits as "frivolous." And many of the stories carry glaring factual errors. Read more

Tire Failures Drive RV Lawsuits

There are a growing number of lawsuits linking tire failures in large motor homes to serious and fatal accidents. The concern is that many of the tires on these vehicles are defective and too small. A large RV typically seats up to six people and has a kitchen, living area, bathroom and bedroom. Many of them have ceramic floors, granite countertops and slide-out sections that enlarge the motor home when it is parked at a campground.

These heavy loads, coupled with weight-shifting inside the RV, put too much pressure on tires that are inadequate for the load, resulting in +sudden tire failures, according to Sean Kane, head of Safety Research and Strategies, a research and consulting firm in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

The problem, Kane said, is that the RV manufacturer's under-rate the axle weights of their vehicles and equip them with tires that can't bear the load. If a front wheel blows out, the RV's are almost impossible to steer. Because of these problems, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating tire failures in Class A motor homes. It has requested information from Goodyear and other tire makers. This is true because the RV industry performs little of the safety testing that is standard in the automobile industry As Kane states, the RV industry needs to increase safety standards and work with tire makers to ensure the tires on the RV are safe. [Lawyers USA, May 7, 2007, Tire Failures Drive RV Lawsuits by Nora Lockwood Too her.]