LETTERS: LIMITING PUNITIVE DAMAGES WILL HELP LEGAL SYSTEM

To the Editor:

The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a bill that will help protect all of us from frivolous and outrageous damage awards.

H.R. 956 would limit punitive damage awards to three times a person's economic damages or $250,000, whichever is greater, in all cases. To me that makes good sense.

I know punitive damages are an important way to punish guilty people for misconduct. But these large sums of money are over and above a person's out-of-pocket expenses (lost wages, medical bills) and other money for pain and suffering, emotional distress and the like. There's a real problem today when people use our legal system to get rich.

It's about time someone stood up for the rights of people like you and me. I plan to tell Bill Emerson that I support this common-sense approach to making the legal system work for all of us.

Jim Teeple

Cape Girardeau