Book Details

Regulation through Litigation

By W. KIP VISCUSI (Editor)

Price : ~~£18.50~~  £14.80
ISBN : 9780815706090
Page : 369
Year of Publication : 2002    Edition : 1
Publisher : BROOKINGS INSTITUTION PRESS
Subject : LAW

mediamatics

Description :

Recent high-profile lawsuits involving cigarettes, guns, breast implants, and other products have created new frictions between litigation and regulation. Increasingly, litigation is being used as a financial lever to force companies to accept negotiated regulatory policies—policies that invariably involve less public input and accountability than those arising from government regulation. The process not only usurps the traditional governmental authority for regulation, but also shifts the locus of establishing tax policy from the legislature to the parties involved in the litigation. Citizen interests are not explicitly represented and there is no mechanism to ensure that these outcomes are in society’s best interests. By focusing on case studies involving the tobacco industry, guns, lead paint, breast implants, and health maintenance organizations, the contributors to this volume collectively shed light on the likely consequences of regulation through litigation for insurance markets and society at large. They analyze the ramifications of large-scale lawsuits, mass torts, and class actions for the insurance market, and advocate increased public scrutiny of attorney reimbursement and a competitive bidding process for all lawsuits involving government entities as the plaintiffs.

W. Kip Viscusi is John F. Cogan Jr. Professor of Law and Economics and director of the Program on Empirical Legal Studies at Harvard Law School.

Content :

1 Overview By W.KIP.VISCUSI

2 Tobacco: Regulation and Taxation Through Litigation By W.KIP.VISCUSI

Comment By JOHN E.CALFEE

3 Litigation a Regulation: Firearms By PHILIP J.COOK AND JENS LUDWIG

Comment By JIM LEITZEL

4 Litigating Lead-Based Paint Hazards By RANDALL LUTTER AND ELIZABETH MADER

Comment By THOMAS K.KNIESNER

5 Breast Implants: Regulation, Litigation, and Science By JONI HERSCH

Comment By PETER SCHUCK

6 Malpractice Pressure, Managed Care, and Physician Behavior By DANIEL P. KESSLER AND MARK B.MCCLELLAN

Comment By PATRICIA DANZON

7 The Insurance Effects of Regulation by Litigation By KENNETH S. ABRAHAM