By allowing auto accident victims to file lawsuits in all cases - repealing the existing limited prohibitions on lawsuits under no-fault - the bill would mean more work for trial lawyers, and more litigation costs to add to the expense of injuries sustained in auto accidents. But it would reduce any court award, arbitration or settlement by $5,000. That would be bad news for the victims and would give the lawyers an incentive to inflate injuries in order to increase the awards above the $5,000 minimum.
At least as deplorable is the proposed shifting of accident-related medical costs above $3,000 to the victims' prepaid health plans. This is a blatantly anti-business provision because employers shoulder the bulk of the expense for employees' medical insurance. It's estimated that this would cost employers an additional $90 a year per employee, and that could go higher.
At a time when many businesses are struggling for survival, such cost increases could be fatal. At a minimum they would add to the expense of hiring workers and thereby serve as a deterrent to employment. If Hawaii hopes to rid itself of its anti-business reputation, the Legislature must reject all such proposals to pile more costs on employers.
This bill would require a 25 to 30 percent reduction in auto insurance rates. But such a reduction would come at a price in reduced benefits for consumers and an increased burden for business. As such it would be illusory, in the sense that people think they should be getting the same protection at lower cost.
Only the trial lawyers will have reason to celebrate if this bill becomes law. Could that be the reason that its main supporters are lawyers?
The real solution to the high cost of auto insurance is to eliminate litigation costs by strengthening the no-fault system.
The black-dominated government must live up to its pledge to treat people of all races equally.
The treaty bans the production, possession, transfer and use of poison gas. Each party to the convention pledges to destroy all chemical weapons and production facilities. Without U.S. ratification, some governments could use U.S. inaction as an excuse to keep their chemical weapons. This should not be permitted to happen. The Senate should act, and before April 27.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor