The California Legislature is back in town after a month long holiday. Don't get too excited though...they take off again in September for the rest of the year. The old adage that "everyone's life and liberty is at risk as long as the legislature is in session" was never so true as it applies to the tort battle which has returned to Sacramento.
When you think of "tort," you probably think of German Chocolate Cake. The cake, however, is a "torte," while a "tort" is an action that harms someone. Thus a tort is potential lawsuit fodder for trial lawyers: whether it be a routine fender bender or a chemical spill.
Laws are created to set the rules under which injuries are litigated and the legislature has full control! Take for instance the workers compensation system. Created originally as a no-fault system between employer and employer to take the lawyers out of the picture. Well, we all know what happened there: the trial lawyers gradually, over a period of many years, expanded the situations where an injured worker could sue his or her employer. Costs went up dramatically.
The tort battles in the legislature thus pit the trial lawyers, who often work on contingency fees, against business and insurers. This year the fight will be particularly active this month. Lawyers and organized labor that want to expand litigation helped Democrats get their super majority in both houses of the legislature. The lawyers and the unions believe it is time to call in their chits and move their agendas along.
Examples abound in bills being pushed: one would give appellate courts broader authority to review summary judgment dismissals by trial court judges – thus weakening a legal too used by defendants in civil cases...most often businesses.
There are also measures to cut down on arbitration, increase punitive damages and expand product liability lawsuits. Lawyers are also trying to overturn the $250,000 medical malpractice cap, which is the envy of many other states. Interestingly, this was created by a bill that Governor Brown signed....back in 1975.
It all makes wonderful theater...except for the fact that it affects everyone's pocket book and affects the number one job creating engine in our economy: small businesses.
1. Cassidy Arendt,($3,000.00) daughter of Rick and Tamara Arendt of San Diego, Calif.
2 .Dominic Joseph Grisafe ($1,500.00). Son of Dominic and Lora Grisafe of Yucaipa, Calif.
3 Tyler Matthew ($1,000.00). Son of Matt and Catherine Evans of Hemet, Calif.
4. Amanda Ozaki ($1,000.00). aughter of Ross and Gayle Ozaki of Sacramento, Calif.
5. Casandra Stevenson ($1,000.00). Daughter of Bradford Stevenson and Joy Booher (of Newport Exterminating)
6. Kelsey Matzen ($500.00) Daughter of Peter and Susan Matzen of Petaluma, Calif.
The 2012-13 C.A.R.E.S. fundraising raffle was a great success and rose more than $8,000.00 and had three winners totaling $6,000.00. The price of a ticket was the same as last year, but when you sold or bought five tickets at one time you got one free. Our goal was to sell 300 tickets and we got close, we sold 283 tickets and had 69 free tickets for the people or districts that sold or bought 5 or more at one time.
Our usual sales people were out in force and Tamara Tibbett-Arendt sold the most. She out did her last years number of 53 and sold 68 tickets, which gave her 13 free tickets in the hopper for the drawing.
On Saturday night at the Installation Banquet, all the tickets were mixed up and put in a cloth pillow case and mixed up some more. We drew the 3rd, then 2nd place winners and then the 1st place winner. The winners were:
$1,000.00 Vintage Costal District one of their free tickets.
$2,000.00 Gail Dustin of Dustin PC in Fresno, Calif.
$3,000.00 Barbara young from the Vintage Coastal District.
Thank you for your attention, and WE look forward to next year's raffle that helps ONLY PCOC member companies and/or their families.
Steve Scoville
2013 Raffle Fundraising Chairman