To the editor:
The Pacific Research Institute's report on the costs of America's civil justice system is riddled with error ("Tort system costs amount to more than 2 percent of GDP," March 27). In fact, PRI's report amounts to little more than corporate-funded misinformation designed to cast doubt on our courts and to reduce corporate accountability.
From the widely discredited cost estimates on which its study is based to the suggestion that asbestos workers should be more worried about losing their jobs than dying, PRI's report is a prime example of public relations work masquerading as research.
The American civil justice system ensures that each side in a dispute can present its case before an impartial jury of one's peers. Ours is the most fair and impartial system of justice, and has made Americans safer and healthier. It's unfortunate that PRI fails to acknowledge the benefits of such a system, and tragic that so many are duped by its falsehoods.
Laura MacCleery
Director, Congress Watch
Public Citizen
Washington, D.C.