Wayne M. Willoughby Law Blog

United States Chamber of Commerce and its minions (including some political parties and for-hire “think” tanks) attack trial lawyers and the judicial system daily.  They raise bogus examples of “lawsuit abuse” and make the unfounded assertion that the legal system is a “tax” on business and consumers.  Their goal: a world where corporations cannot be held accountable for corporate negligence.  

More than a decade after the Institute of Medicine released To Err Is Human – its seminal study on the prevalence of preventable medical errors in American hospitals – new research suggests that not only are hospitals making little headway in reducing errors that kill at least 98,000 people a year, but that the number may be much higher than previously known.

Health Affairs devoted its April 2011 issue to the state of patient safety in the... Read More

In its latest listing of so called “judicial hellholes,” the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) calls out states where its patrons complain they do not receive their version of “justice.”  Odds are the spectacular ATRA report, complete with a flaming gavel on the cover, was issued in the hope that Mark Twain was right when he said a “lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its... Read More

Some in Congress again push to shelter negligent corporations and others at the expense of injured patients.

It’s back!  The so-called Help Efficient, Accessible, Low Cost, Timely Health Care (HEALTH) Act of 2011 (H.R. 5) is the same bill that was passed by the House of Representatives in 2005.  This bill would shield negligent hospital corporations, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, corporate nursing homes... Read More

As a new legislative session begins it is not unusual to find misleading op/ed pieces advocating positions that protect corporations from accountability for wrongful conduct. Nevertheless, “A sneak attack on contributory negligence?” in the Jan. 14 issue of The Daily Record was unique in its audacity.

The authors, registered lobbyists speaking for Maryland Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse and the National Federation of Independent Business,... Read More