This project will create a database of over 12 categories of tort law reforms enacted or revised in the 50 United States since the 1960s. Examples of tort law reforms tracked in this project include damage award caps, contingent fee limits, and heightened evidentiary standards for punitive damages. This database will be made available to the public, enabling other researchers to perform consistent, reliable research on the effect of the tort reforms on society. Current research in the field relies largely on anecdotal evidence, ad-hoc data sets, or inconsistent, and incomplete compilations of legal reforms. Research based on the project database will help address some of the most important issues in society today, such as medical malpractice, products liability and other personal injury liability by measuring the impact of legal reforms on the costs to society of insurance, injury, and injury prevention.
