[Terry]

Originally posted by Grumpy:Shouldn't your neighbor's house insurance pay for your accident?

I would never give up my right to collect damages if some doctor screwed me up. That's a leap of faith that I'm not willing to go on.

As far as the neighbor's insurance needing to pay for my injuries yes they should have stepped up to the plate. They didn't agree to help me out with anything. They agreed to settle only when I sued, and, only in mediation, before we went to trial. Their attitude was, I had a pre-existing condition so, naturally, the 100 lb. German Shepard/Rottweiler slamming in to my front wheel causing me to catapult end over end, shattering my clavicle and, landing full force on my spine had nothing to do with my condition. Insurance companies force people to sue them daily. Most people cave in. I am a fighter and chose to not allow them to wipe out part of my retirement savings. Your example of a $200 million hangnail is not very accurate. If you wish to sign over your rights to sue have at it. I lost 4 years of my life to agony and three major surgeries. I didn't get enough money for what I went through as the homeowner's had a lousy $100,000 dollar liability policy. As I stated earlier most people sue to get their money back. You can only collect the policy limits on people's coverage. Only unless it is a big corporation that is being sued can you collect more money. I would have no wish to see companies cause harm to people as they are protected by a cap on what can be collected. In Michigan Governor Engler helped big business by allowing people the opportunity to not be able to sue pharmaceutical companies except in Federal court if at all. There was no collections for the people who lost their loved ones due to the Cox II inhibitors. If you wish to help out big businesses over the average person feel free. When the government starts reducing our social security and Medicare benefits so the wealthy can stay that way I'll run for office. These folks who bought their way in to office also voted themselves the best benefits that yours and my money could buy them. In Michigan the legislatures put their raises in to law so they occur automatically. While our State has been in the tank for years due to the Big Three the lawmakers raises keep going up year after year. When confronted with this their excuse is that they cannot do anything about it as it's the law. You sound like you need to learn more about who Tort reform would really help. BTW, I'm just one of the shrinking middle class folks.

Terry Newton