More on Oklahoma Tort Reform

You need to ask yourself, "why do my legislators want to punish me for someone else's actions?" You may drink the "Kool-Aid," and believe "it's those dirty trial lawyers who bring lawsuits." The truth is, it's injured people like you and I, who are trying to pay their bills, feed their families, and get relief from their pain. Today I met with a client who was injured 2 years ago in an on-the-job accident at work. The injury has caused him great amounts of pain and suffering, forced him from gainful employment, and basically destroyed the young man's life. Instead of acting responsibly however, the workers' compensation insurance carrier denied his claim, and has fought to keep from paying for his desperately needed medical treatment. The young man is in financial ruin, yet they person causing the accident suffers no harm. This is a scenario that plays out in countless cases across Oklahoma, and through the United States. Yet, our state and federal legislators continue to cave to special interests, big businesses, and insurance companies when they represent us. I'll freely admit that I'm a Republican. Heck, I'm probably closer to Libertarian. I support the Republican values, and more especially, the "hands off" approach to doing business. However, there have been many recent attempts by "Republican" legislators to curb your rights, and reward wrong-doers. Recently, Oklahoma State Senator Anthony Sykes introduced Senate Bills 863 and 864, that will limit your ability to collect benefits because of your foresight and planning. More particularly, SB 863 and 864 seeks to abolish the "collateral source rule" in Oklahoma's statutes. A conservative Tea Party group, Oklahomans for Liberty, has exposed Senator Sykes's actions. The mission of the organization is "to educate liberty-minded Oklahomans on how their state legislators are voting at the State Capitol." In a post by David Tackett, Oklahomans for Liberty attacks the blatant pandering by Senator Sykes. I reprint the entire post here because of its important message and to expose the type of behavior that your representatives are using to punish you. "Conservative" Senator Sykes Wants to Punish Personal Responsibility An Explanation of Collateral Source I'm not a legal scholar. Heck, if you would have asked me a few months ago that I would be writing articles explaining complicated legalese, I would have laughed in your face. But my journey into the ills of the State Chamber and the GOP leadership they control with thousands in campaign contributions made me reexamine my views in what it means to be a Constitutional Conservative. If you haven't read my article about Sen. Sykes' legislative attempt to destroy our 7th Amendment rights, in SB 863, please clickhere. However, when investigating that bill, I came upon an even more egregious bill that goes against everything it means to be a conservative. Personally, I am a registered Republican. I chose the GOP because one of its core tenets is personal responsibility. Many Republicans disagree on a litany of issues, but "personal responsibility" is a universally agreed upon position. So please tell me why Sen. Anthony Sykes, a registered Republican and professed conservative, authored SB 864, a bill that punishes people for carrying health, life, and auto insurance? How you ask does it do that? Collateral Source. Bare with me here, but I will try to explain what this legal concept means. You win a lawsuit for $250,000 against the doctor who botched your kid's surgery that led to the death of your child. However, instead of being paid the full $250,000, you only get $50,000. Why? Because you had the foresight to get a $200,000 life insurance policy on your kid. Basically, collateral source means any monies you receive in relation to the lawsuit must be counted against the final award. So, the auto, health, and life insurance that YOU pay into every month would be discounted from the final reward. Disgusted yet? Just wait… Any SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE OR MEDICAID payments would be counted as well. So now your TAX DOLLARS would be counted on as source to pay out judgments. OK, let's recap. The doctor whose mistake led to the death your kid now gets to pay less in damages because you took the time and money to buy life insurance. And if you were on Medicare, he gets to let the government pay for part of his damages as well. Yet despite this bill being everything conservative Republicans stand against, Senator Sykes, with the help of Pro-Tem Bingman was able to pass SB 864 out of committee. We can't let this bill become law either! We as conservative MUST take a stand and tell our Senators NO to SB 864 as well as SB 863. Please call your Senator today and tell them that collateral source is NOT a conservative value. Click here to find the phone number of your State Senator. And please call Senator Sykes at (405) 521-5569 and ask him why he is punishing personal responsibility by authoring SB 864. Sincerely, David Tackett Oklahomans For Liberty If you're further concerned about the direction of our great, "Conservative" state, I would encourage you to review this article, written by another conservative Oklahoma trial lawyer, Jeremy Thurman. Please, get involved in this fight to protect your rights. Don't let these "conservative" legislators tell you how much you're entitled to because of your accident. Don't get stiffed by these guys and their use of non-economic damages. More on Oklahoma Tort Reform is a post from Absolute Legal Services, LLC. We are a law firm located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, that handles personal injury matters, consumer disputes, business issues, social security problems, and immigration concerns. Please visit our homepage to learn more about our firm, and contact us for legal assistance. Don't forget to subscribe to this feed in your feed reader (we recommend Google Reader). Related Posts The Case for Tort Reform, Almost Why Your Insurance Company Isn't Doing You Any Favors Surprising Statistics

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