Is the phrase, a government “of the people, by the people, for the people” in the constitution? Popular belief is yes, but it is not actually in the constitution. Rather, this phrase comes from President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. It is probably a concept that should have been incorporated into the constitution and certainly Lincoln included it to remind citizens that it is their country. I think politicians, and even some of us, forget that it is OUR government and the politicians are OUR employees; they are supposed to be working in OUR best interests.

Business interests are fond of complaining about the jury system and regularly claim that it is “broken”, it needs to be “fixed”. Perhaps the best word is, in fact, “fixed”; they would like to fix the civil justice system so that it can be better influenced in their direction. Should we hold it against them because they work to achieve an unfair playing field? We should not hate Big Corporations for this, but should we allow them to achieve it? Absolutely not!

I think the jury system our founding fathers borrowed from English common law works just fine in protecting the rights of individual citizens. Frankly, I want six of my fellow citizens sitting and listening to evidence in my case. I want six regular people considering what makes sense and what does not make sense. I do not want a special panel appointed to hear my case, as has been promoted by many business “political parrots”. I do not want the government inserting itself into the civil justice system anymore than they already do. I trust an impartial panel of my fellow citizens to fairly weigh the evidence and reach a decision that makes sense.

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News of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis and the mine failures in Utah are just the most recent reminders that issues of safety and accountability affect us all. Corporations with a profit motive have often and consistently acted like those profits were more important than the lives of the people we love. This has played itself out in an ominous fashion over the past 10 years as we’ve seen a coordinated effort by corporate interests to limit, or in some cases eliminate, your individual right to a jury trial. During that time those same corporations have made no effort to limit their own access to the courts.

Recently we’ve also seen the case of Melenna Del Valle who was killed in the interstate 90 tunnel collapse in Boston. In that matter the National Transportation Safety Board has just reported that the failure related to the design and materials utilized in the construction. The finding has brought forth a criminal indictment of at least one firm involved in the project. Unfortunately the criminal statute provides for only a $1,000 dollar penalty. I think most would agree that this is insufficient to inspire accountability or a change of heart on the part of a major corporation.

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It is a monumental tragedy; there is simply no other way to describe it. Motorists were driving across interstate 35 yesterday when, without warning, the bridge began to fall apart under their cars and plunged dozens of cars into the muddy Mississippi river.

When it opened 40 years ago, the bridge was an engineering breakthrough because no mid-span support was placed under the bridge. This allowed for unimpeded boat traffic on the Mississippi river below. Bridges decay, stress, and become damaged over time. The LA Times reports that the last comprehensive inspection of this bridge was in 2001. State inspectors concluded that the bridge “should not have any problems with fatigue cracking in the foreseeable future.” Tragically, the foreseeable future must be something less than six years. The LA Times reported that:

“Inspectors recommended frequent inspection – as often as every six months – of the steel trusses that bore the most stress. But they concluded that the state “does not need to prematurely replace this bridge … avoiding the high costs associated with such a large project.”

Bridges are often exposed to chloride as a result of marine salt or the application of salt during winter road deicing. Chloride attacks the bridge surface and can begin causing corrosion of both the bridge surface as well as the support structures. The reinforcements found closest to the top or bottom surface of the concrete are usually the first to suffer structural decay. Once the decay begins, structural components suffer progressive decay and structural integrity failure.

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Two elements of the American Dream – home ownership and the right to seek justice – have been on a collision course as home buyers fighting construction defects learn the hard way that arbitration clauses stack the deck against them.

Responding, in part, to consumer outrage, both houses of Congress have proposed amending The Federal Arbitration Act to restore homebuyers’ rights to take developers to court instead of submitting to mandatory arbitration (H.R. 3010 and S. 1782, filed July 12, 2007).

Consumer organizations such as HomeOwners for Better Building (http://www.hobb.org/) and People Over Profits (http://www.peopleoverprofits.org/) have argued for years that as major construction defects become more prevalent, binding arbitration rules become, in effect, legislated protection of huge development corporations that cut corners – literally and figuratively – and make home warranties worthless.

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