Tort Reform

Steven G. Kraus, a Massachusetts attorney, just told me about a doctrine in New Jersey that should be adopted in every State. It should make litigants act more reasonably.

Steve said: “…an insurance coverage doctrine that we in New Jersey call ‘Rova Farms‘ … The doctrine provides that if an insurance company can resolve a lawsuit reasonably worth more than its liability policy limits for those policy limits and the plaintiff makes a demand to settle for the policy limits, if the insurance company refuses the offer and the case is later tried and comes in for more than the policy limits, the policy limits are reformed to cover the full amount of the verdict.”

Wow! Talk about a way to make litigants, and their counsel, analyze their cases before they reach the Courthouse steps and act more reasonably! This should be adopted in every State, if not by Court doctrine, then by statute. That would be Tort Reform I could live with ….

Categorized in: Personal Thoughts