California governor announces tort reform campaign

California's unemployment topped 12 percent in November. So, in his annual State of the State address, republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a program "aimed at jumpstarting the Golden State's beleaguered economy" by creating or retaining 100,000 jobs. "Creating jobs and getting our economy back on track, protecting education, reforming our tax and pension systems and putting an end to our boom and bust budget cycle must all be priorities", he said. This makes sense were it not for the fact that he added that the top priority for his administration was, you guessed it, "tort reform." This is bad news for consumers and victims of malpractice in California, which already has a cap on non-economic damages in med-mal cases. Go here for the story. Thanks to the TortsProf Blog for the information and link.