“In a new White Paper, the national nonprofit consumer group Center for Justice & Democracy explores how the weakening of investors’ and borrowers’ legal rights since the 1990s has compounded deregulation and lax regulatory enforcement led to the recent economic collapse. In Legal Abandon: How Limiting Lawsuits Led To The Financial Collapse And What To Do About It, CJ&D shows how the legal rights of defrauded shareholders have been greatly restricted by both Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, and the rights of subprime mortgage borrowers have been extremely limited, as well. Said co-author Amy Widman, “Two laws are particularly problematic: the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) and the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (SLUSA), which greatly restrict investor fraud cases. In addition, two Supreme Court cases, Central Bank of Denver, N.A. v. Interstate Bank of Denver, N.A. (1994) and Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. et al. (2007), both significantly limited the liability of those who aid in the commission of a securities fraud.”

This is an interesting article.  The analysis is easy to apply to medical malpractice and personal injury lawsuits.  Tort reform does not encourage manufactures to produce safe products.  It forces the injured party to bear the cost of the harm and the injury.