Science in the Courts

During the last ten years, the courts, especially the federal court system and tort law, have undergone a quiet revolution. Few people outside the legal community are aware of the impact of these changes, but they affect everyone. Because of changes in the way courts treat science and evidence, the courts can no longer be counted on to provide justice for those who have been injured by products and technologies. People are losing their right to sue, and when cases do reach the courts, plaintiffs find the deck stacked against them. The tort system is broken. Tort reform is indeed needed, but not the kind of reform that is making headlines today. The tort system must be restored to its original intent to provide justice through a system that gives equal consideration to plaintiffs and defendants.

Read more in SEHN’s White Paper, Detox for Torts: How to Bring Justice Back to the Tort System.

Related articles include:

• Daubert Rules Challenge Courts, by Bette Hileman, Senior Editor of Chemical Engineering News (July 2003 - subscription required)
• Daubert: The Most Influential Supreme Court Ruling You’ve Never Heard Of on the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy's website (June 2003 - PDF).