SECTION: EDITORIAL & OPINION; Pg. 10
HEADLINE: LETTERS

I was pleased to see that you cited my U.S. Tort Liability Index in your July 13 editorial, "Muzzle the Bar?" As you note, New York ranked 48th when comparing the tort systems of all 50 states. Allow me to point out a major cause of New York's "ambulance chasing" problem.

New York uses pure comparative fault as its negligence standard, meaning that an injured party who is 99% at fault may still sue and recover damages. New York should move to a pure contributory negligence standard so that an injured party that is in any way at fault cannot recover damages.

When you combine New York's permissive negligence standard with the fact that it lacks monetary caps for non-economic and punitive damages, the result is a litigator's paradise. Nobody is safe from being bankrupted by a "get-rich-quick" lawsuit where the plaintiff is at fault.

LAWRENCE McQUILLAN
Pacific Research Institute
San Francisco, CA