Fun with numbers

The full page ad I saw from the Institute for Legal Reform, a group that says they want tort reform, uses numbers in a creative way to try to convince people they are paying a lot of money every year for frivolous lawsuits.

The open with a long line that says frivolous lawsuits are driving away jobs, doctors and businesses from our state. And then they have these two lines:

And each American pays $866 a year in higher prices just to cover the cost of litigation. That amounts to $4.9 billion for the entire population of Wisconsin.

However, if you look at the tiny print on the bottom of the ad, that dollar amount comes from the cost of the entire U.S. tort system. They didn't flat out say frivolous lawsuits are the only cost they are talking about, but that is definitely the impression they are trying to give. They are hoping folks will call up their representatives and say they are tired of paying almost $1000 a year to cover frivolous lawsuits. They drive home the linking of these two facts with the closing in big letters - "Lawsuit abuse hurts Wisconsin. And it hurts you"

Of course, the entire tort system is not hearing frivolous lawsuits. There are a lot of people that use the tort system to right serious wrongs that have happened to them.

The ad tells folks to demand that the flaws are fixed but never tells you what the group believes the flaws are or how to fix them. Perhaps that's because this group would be happiest if there was no tort system. Perhaps they think they shouldn't be held responsible for any of their actions.