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     WHAT'S BEHIND "TORT REFORM?"

1/25/2005

At George W's recent "National Economic Conference," an entire session 
was devoted to bashing trial lawyers � and what a rollicking good time 
it was!

A panel of corporate interests wowed the hand-picked audience of Bush 
partisans with jabs at the lawyers who try to hold wrongdoing 
corporations accountable to those of us who are harmed. George himself 
nodded and chuckled as panelists cried about people who sue these 
business empires.

For example, Home Depot's CEO, Bob Nardelli, a fat cat Bush donor, was 
there, wailing that his $64 billion-a-year retailing Goliath is a target 
for pesky consumers and their lawyers: "You've got deep pockets 
colliding with shallow principles," Bob snorted, drawing guffaws from an 
appreciative George who is demanding that congress limit the rights of 
consumers to bring lawsuits against the Home Depots.

Missing from Bush's BashFest was Mary Penturff. Even if invited, though, 
she wouldn't have come, since... well, she's dead. Her head was crushed 
by a 75-pound box that fell from one of Home Depot's "high-stack" 
shelves. Nor could Janessa Horner be there to testify. This 
three-year-old's body was shattered by wood fragments when more than a 
ton of kitchen countertops fell 10 feet from a Home Depot forklift, 
splitting a main blood vessel in Janessa's brain. She died four hours later.

Nardelli tries to keep secret the number of people killed or maimed by 
Home Depot � which has been labeled "the most dangerous store in 
America" � but it's known that in one year alone they were getting 185 
injury claims per week. Why doesn't Bob do something about it? Because 
it's more profitable for him to settle with the families than to change 
the dangerous way his stores are operated.

And it's even more profitable for him to back his buddy Bush, who'll 
then push a law to keep families like Mary Penturff's and Janessa 
Horner's from suing Home Deport for their loss, pain, and suffering.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Conference mocks trial lawyers," The Mercury News, December 16, 2004.
"Accidents claim lives of Home Depot shoppers," Atlanta Business 
Chronicle, February 21, 2003.
"Home Depot must make stores safer," Atlanta Business Chronicle, 
February 21, 2003.
"Danger in the aisles," Atlanta Business Chronicle, February 23, 2003.
"How Home Depot keeps store accidents secret," Atlanta Business 
Chronicle, February 23, 2003.