By Paul W. Whelan
On Friday, January 7th on KUOW, our WA State Attorney General, Rob McKenna, delivered his ethically and factually challenged explanation of his proposed legislative changes regarding government liability.
His pitch to cap or limit government responsibility is particularly dangerous because we live in an era of enormous budget problems, where essential services such as health care and education are in jeopardy. Like most conservative pitch men, McKenna avoids the factual nuances that are absolutely critical to understand the issues. He claims that the State should only pay its “fair share” of the responsibility of the harm it causes.
Significantly, what McKenna fails to mention is that the major settlements he complains about were approved by his own office. Secondly, he does not bother to explain the fact that in order to have an allocation of fault among co-defendants, Plaintiffs must be absolutely fault free. Only then can the trier of fact (like a judge or jury) proportion damages between co-defendants, each of which must be found to be held responsible for the liability-causing event. In other words, the judge or jury must find that, ‘but for’ the defendant’s actions, the plaintiff was injured.
Mr. McKenna also fails to note that his proposed legislation would cover much more than State misconduct. It affects the liability of County run hospitals, public utility districts, cities, towns, and any other political sub division in the State. He also never mentions the fact that wherever the State or political subdivision thereof is the only defendant in a case, that entity itself could and usually does bring additional defendants into the case to diminish its responsibility.
Remember: This is the same attorney general who is attempting to undermine federal health care law by attacking the universal mandatory coverage provisions adopted by congress.
Clearly, Rob McKenna intends to run for governor in the next election and hopes to stir up a conservative Tea Party base by raising issues and concepts opposed by most thoughtful Washingtonians.
keepwasafe 