cover image Accidental Justice: The Dilemmas of Tort Law

Accidental Justice: The Dilemmas of Tort Law

Peter Alan Bell, Jeffrey O'Connell. Yale University Press, $50 (282pp) ISBN 978-0-300-06257-1

Though O'Connell, a law professor at the University of Virginia, is known as an advocate of no-fault insurance, he and Bell, a law professor at Syracuse University, offer in this fair-minded book a primer, not a polemic. As it covers the controversies and philosophies behind accident law, Accidental Justice (which uses the narrative device of a fictional lawsuit) seems aimed more at the curious layperson or pre-law/political science student than at the law student. The authors acknowledge that tort cases take a long time to resolve; may provoke sympathy rather than logic from jurors; and often reward lawyers more than plaintiffs. Then again, they note, lawsuits seem to be more effective than regulation (OSHA, etc.) in deterring unsafe behavior and may come closer to achieving justice than do administrative systems such as workers' compensation. Business and medical groups have pushed for ""tort reform"" that would curb lawsuits, while well-off plaintiffs' lawyers have provided vigorous opposition. The authors conclude with a sober survey of reform efforts: while a no-fault system cuts transaction costs, it sacrifices individual dignity; more creative plans that O'Connell has devised create incentives for both sides to settle quickly. However, the authors note, no one seems to be able to come up with good solutions to ""mass tort"" class-action cases such as those involving asbestos and silicone breast implants. (Apr.)