Word: blame
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...everyone shares Lipsig's view of his usefulness to society. Critics of big damage judgments blame aggressive liability lawyers for causing insurance rates to skyrocket and for putting the bite on city governments whose "deep pockets" are filled with taxpayer dollars. Says Blair Childs, executive director of the American Tort Reform Association, a lobby group in Washington: "Harry Lipsig typifies the system where no one wins but the likes of Harry Lipsig. A few others win big with him. But society is hurt...
...caused when facts conflict with deeply held beliefs. Americans appear to have responded to the cognitive dissonance triggered by the Iranian airbus disaster by stifling both moral responsibility and collective grief. A Washington Post- ABC News poll found that 74% of those surveyed believe that Iran is more to blame than the U.S. for the destruction of Flight 655. Certainly this reaction was compounded by the role that Iran plays in American demonology. Nine years of demonstrators in Tehran chanting "Death to America!" have fueled an emotional climate where 290 dead Iranians are deemed unworthy of genuine mourning, even when...
Central to the American character is a litigious mind-set that cannot acknowledge blame without worrying about legal liability. Before the passengers on Flight 655 were even buried, Washington policymakers were locked in a distracting wrangle over whether to pay damages. The questionable notion that some form of monetary compensation to the victims' families could assuage Iran's grief was advanced by House Speaker Jim Wright and Republican Senator John Warner. The Administration has agreed to study the possibility of such payments, and the President is leaning strongly in favor of them. The primary obstacle appears to be political...
...rushed to absolve the plane, even though the precise cause of the crash will require a month-long study. In a news conference, Transport Minister Louis Mermaz declared that "there is no reason to question the proper functioning of the plane or its use." He did not fix the blame on pilot error, but other officials alleged that Pilot Michel Asseline, 44, had been flying much too low, at only about 30 ft., far below the minimum safe level of 100 ft. This was less than totally comforting for Airbus and Air France, however, because the veteran Asseline...
Occidental Petroleum, owner of the Piper Alpha platform, said it believed a gas leak was to blame, but days or weeks would be needed to determine what caused and ignited it. Occidental said the three-quarters of the 649-foot-high rig was destroyed...