The contract’s fine print focused on just a few areas of law, like those involving defective products. But big business and other groups worried about being sued privately warned that the GOP would get only one shot at legal reform and should, as a key lobbyist said, ““go for the nuclear bomb.’’ So the House Republican leadership plans to offer a radical floor amendment clamping down on lawsuits over medical malpractice, auto accidents, airline crashes, sexual harassment and all other personal-injury (or ““tort’’) cases. It would prohibit juries from ever awarding more than $250,000 for pain and suffering – and would wipe out any state law that allowed larger awards. Personal-injury lawyers and consumer groups are planning a counteroffensive against this surprise attack.
