Over the last 20+ years, lawmakers in Ohio have been on a crusade to protect people.  Corporate people, mind you, not human people, but people nonetheless, according to the U.S. Supreme Court.  We were told that limiting jury awards would save jobs and create a “business friendly” environment .  As the graph below shows, this has not been the case in Ohio.  Even though the number of product liability cases filed in Ohio has dropped dramatically, the unemployment rate has continued to shoot through the roof.  Tort reform has failed.

Source:

2010 Ohio Courts Statistical Summary, http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/Publications/annrep/10OCS/summary/14.pdf;

US Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LASST39000003

Even in the face of such staggering statistics, business and insurance lobby groups continue to advocate for the same, worn out tort reform, hoping for a different outcome.  This, of course, is the classic definition of insanity.