Law prof Daniel Hemel (@DanielJHemel) has posted a detailed series of tweets skewering the tort-deform provisions in the Republican-sponsored coronavirus relief bill. I recommend reading these tweets. Hemel begins with the statement that "[t]he liability provisions in McConnell’s 'HEALS Act' do not reflect a serious attempt to address problems with the tort system" and then goes on to demolish any justification for each provision. Go here to read Hemel's tweets.
I have a question. The readers of this blog will generally agree that the liability provisions in the Republican bill stink. But let's say there's a compromise bill that adopts all (or most) of the much more generous Covid relief measures that the House Democrats want but also includes the tort-deform proposals championed by the Republicans. The alternatives might be no bill at all (or no bill for quite a while) or a bill that has considerably less relief for people who desperately need it. Should the compromise bill be adopted?
