The Price of Safety
The New York Times
Letter to the Editor
September 11, 2000

Robert Levy uses the case of Firestone's tires to dismiss concerns about companies that use callous cost-benefit analyses to justify keeping defective products on the market, finding it cheaper simply to pay out liability claims to those injured (Op-Ed, Sept. 8).

He also asserts that lawsuits are an effective way to protect consumers from unsafe products. Yet Mr. Levy is a senior fellow of the Cato Institute, an organization whose members also advocate severely restricting the ability of injured consumers to sue companies for their injuries -- so-called tort reform.

Balancing people's lives against corporate profit should never be an option. Companies that do so must be held fully accountable in court for their actions.

(NOTE: The author of the letter is CJ&D Executive Director Joanne Doroshow)