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The Harsh Education of Senator Trent Lott

Senator Trent Lott on Tort Reform:

"You know, obviously we should [enact tort reform]...Someday it will happen, and the sooner the better." - 1/24/01

"The Democrats seem to think that the answer is a lawsuit. Sue everybody." - 7/20/01

"It's sue, sue, sue... That's not the answer."- 8/4/01

"I'm among many Mississippi citizens who believe tort reform is needed."- 5/8/02

"If their answer to everything is more lawsuits, then yes, that's a problem, because I certainly don't support that." - 8/2/02

These quotes were all compiled by a group called the Center for Justice and Democracy, and they all very obviously reflected Senator Trent Lott’s stance on tort reform. He was for it. He thought lawsuits against insurers and manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies were bad for business, and a problem that needed to be addressed.

At least until September of 2005.

Senator Lott found out about how insurance companies treat their customers the hard way. When his $400,000 beach house in Mississippi was wiped out in Hurricane Katrina, he presented his claim to State Farm. When State Farm denied the claim, Senator Lott decided that “…sue, sue, sue” in fact WAS the answer.

In an article in the New York Times, the Senator says that he was shocked by State Farm’s “insensitivity and outright meanness” in the rejection of so many claims. He also found that the insurance contracts that he signed were loaded with what he called “a bunch of subterfuges,” which made the contracts difficult for lawyers (or apparently Senators) to understand. He then filed a lawsuit against State Farm.

To Mr. Lott we can only say “Welcome to the real world.”

While we certainly don’t find any joy in Mr. Lott’s predicament, we do hope that this first hand experience with how insurance companies treat their customers will help him re-think his positions. Most of that tort reform legislation to which he gave such vocal support was written by the very industry that denied his claim. They also denied the claims of thousands of Americans after Katrina, or after car accidents, or house fires, or any event in which they were expected to actually live up to their financial obligations. All tort reform legislation does it make it even easier for insurers to do what they already do, which is deny, stall, and offer settlements that are worth only fractions or what would be right or necessary.

We hope Mr. Lott is successful in his lawsuit. We hope that he gets full value for his damaged house. And, most importantly, we hope he remembers that most of us AREN’T Senators, and don’t carry the weight of that position into our lives. When WE have our claims flatly denied by insurance companies, filing lawsuits turns out to be our only choice. Legislation that makes it harder to do that won’t help us at all, but it would certainly help the same people that offered him sympathy and fine print instead of the money that he needed.

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