Reforming the Civil Justice System

by Larry Kramer

With the recent explosion of high-profile court cases and staggering jury awards, America's justice system has moved to the forefront of our nation's consciousness. Yet while the average citizen is bombarded with information about a few sensational cases--such as the multi-million dollar damages awarded a woman who burned herself with McDonald's coffee-- most Americans are unaware of the truly dramatic transformation our courts and judicial system have undergone over the past three decades, and of the need to reform the system to adapt to that transformation.
In Reforming the Civil Justice System , Larry Kramer has compiled a work that charts these revolutionary changes and offers solutions to the problems they present. Organized into three parts, the book investigates such topics as settlement incentives and joint tortfeasors, substance and form in the treatment of scientific evidence after Daubert v. Merrell Dow, and guiding jurors in valuing pain and suffering damages. Reforming the Civil Justice System offers feasible solutions that can realistically be adopted as our civil justice system continues to be refined and improved.

460 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1996

About the author

Larry Kramer (born June 25, 1935) was an American playwright, author, public health advocate and gay rights activist. He was nominated for an Academy Award, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and was twice a recipient of an Obie Award. In response to the AIDS crisis he founded Gay Men's Health Crisis, which became the largest organization of its kind in the world. He wrote The Normal Heart, the first serious artistic examination of the AIDS crisis. He later founded ACT UP, a protest organization widely credited with having changed public health policy and the public's awareness of HIV and AIDS.[1] "There is no question in my mind that Larry helped change medicine in this country. And he helped change it for the better. In American medicine there are two eras. Before Larry and after Larry," said Dr. Anthony Fauci.[1] Kramer lived in New York City and Connecticut.