LETTER: Huge Las Vegas jury award shows need for tort reform

The Review-Journal’s Monday front-page article “Family hopes $200M verdict spurs change” should lead everyone, with the exception of lawyers, to demand tort reform. Juries awarding ridiculous amounts leads directly to increased costs for everyone.

Every product you buy and every service you receive has built-in legal costs. This is one of the reasons America is not competitive in so many areas. How many lawyer-sponsored ads do you see on television daily? It is estimated that America has more lawyers than any other country. I wonder why.

Tort reform that sets limits is almost never discussed in Congress because most members of the body are lawyers. We need to question political candidates to find out their stances on this critical subject that so often gets swept under the rug and yet is hurting America. An additional benefit of tort reform is that, in the short run, it’ll reduce inflation.