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AP analysis
CADET SLOUCH
by Jim Earle
No-fault plan aids drivers
AUSTIN (A*) — Two cars ap
proached an unmarked intersec
tion in a light rainstorm.
For reason never quite clear,
they collided, injuring both driv
ers.
Each driver exhausted his hos
pital insurance benefits and the
medical payments provided in his
own autp policy. But hospital and
doctor bills continued to pile up
and wages were lost.
Neither would admit blame for
the accident, and there was not
enough evidence to pinpoint who
was at fault.
Both would have sued, but
neither could get a lawyer to
touch the case.
“You can’t win an open inter
section case,” says Jack Eisen-
berg of Austin, president of the
Texas Trial Lawyers Association.
So both drivers and their fam
ilies were burdened with heavy
expenses and had no foreseeable
way to pay them.
This is a fictional case, but it
illustrates why a growing but
still small groups of Texans ad
vocate some form of no-fault car
insurance.
No-fault coverage would pay
accident victims their out-of-
pocket expenses for medical care
and lost wages, regardless of
whether they caused a traffic
mishap.
Under the present liability sys
tem, the insurance company of
the driver who was at fault pays
the “innocent” victim' In most
cases the victim accepts a cash
settlement, but sometimes it takes
a jury trial to determine blame
and damages. And you must be
100 per cent innocent to collect.
In today’s high speed, congest
ed traffic, and with the fallibility
of human senses, it often is dif
ficult to reconstruct an accident,
no-fault advocates point out.
Therefore, they conclude, it is
only fair to provide a way for all
injured victims to recover their
expenses. Uncompensated traffic
victims, they add, are a major so
cial problem.
Two former Texas residents —
Harvard law Prof. Robert Keeton
and former state Assist. Atty.
Gen. T. Lawrence Jones, presi
dent of the American Insurance
Association — are leading advo
cates of the no-fault approach.
Both the Houston Chronicle
and the Texas AFL-CIO have:
urged a no-fault "insurance law
for Texas.
Opposing no-fault insurance are
the Texas Trial Lawyers Associ
ation, all three members of the
State Insurance Board and vari
ous statewide organizations.
Eisenberg defends the 30-40
per cent “contingent fee” that
victorious plaintiffs’ attorneys
collect in auto accident cases. He
says the fee “makes it possible”
for the poor to hire lawyers.
Massachussets passed the first
no-fault law this year, and Insur
ance Board member Charles Ma
thews says it has reduced the
availability of car insurance.
“If you have no-fault insur
ance, that means people lose all
incentive to be careful drivers.
They say, ‘What the hell, I’m in
sured, the company pays off,’ ”
Mathews claims.
Eisenberg said the public wants
a system that forces a person
who wrongfully injures another
to pay. Or, more precisely in
most auto cases, his insurance
company pays.
Keeton, brother of University
of Texas law Dean Page Keeton,
told a gubernatorial committee
on car insurance last year that a
no-fault plan which he co-author
ed would reduce car insurance
rates 25 to 30 per cent.
This would come about, he ex
plained, by eliminating medical
payments and uninsured motor
ists coverage from car insurance
policies, reducing liability needs,
curtailing court expenses, elimi
nating awards for pain and suf
fering and deducting payments
from medical insurance and sick
leave plans.
Texas Insurance Commission
er Clay Gotten said no study has
been made of the effect of no
fault on Texas rates, which prob
ably will be increased again be
fore Jan. 1.
Various rate studies have been
made elsewhere, but each side
disputes the other’s statistics and
conclusions in the debate over no
fault.
“Nobody knows what the cost
will be until we get some kind
of statistics out of Massachu
setts,” Eisenberg said.
The .“new Massachusetts law
allows an accident victim to col
lect up to $2,000 from his own
insurance company for medical
expenses and lost wages, regard
less of fault. One could not be re
imbursed, however, if he became
involved in an accident while
drunk, drugged, evading officers
or committing a felony.
In one of the most controver
sial parts of the law, Massachu
setts legislators ordered an across
the board 15 per cent reduction
in rates for all kinds of car in
surance in 1971.
Massachusetts residents retain
the right to sue for damages over
$2,000.
Jones, president of the Ameri
can Insurance Association, told a
paid; and there are no objective
standards for out-of-court settle
ments.
Eisenberg defends the fault
system but says it needs fixing.
One needed reform, he said,
would abandon the rule that a
victim cannot collect a cent if a
jury finds he contributed in the
slightest to an accident. He ad
vocates “comparative negligence,”
which would allow the least guilty
to collect at least a percentage of
his expenses.
“You can argue that any sys
tem at some point breaks down,
but a jury is the only mechan
ism we have through which we
can arbitrate our disputes,” he
said.
Roy Evans, secretary-treasurer
of the Texas AFL-CIO, says no
legislator has agreed yet to spon
sor a Texas no-fault bill, and he
harbors no illusion that such a
measure can or will be passed
next year.
“We don’t expect it to be
passed in 1971, but discussion of
it would be healthy,” he said.
Mail’s
(Continued from page 1)
—and is a discriminatory law
against the poor, Guttmacher
said.
“This restrictive law uses the
psychiatrist as a middle man to
proclaim the mother possibly sui
cidal to obtain an abortion,” he
said. “This discriminates against
the poorer mothers.
“My position is that abortion
should be a medical decision be
tween doctor and patient,” Gutt
macher said.
However, responsibility and
maturity with both premarital
and postmarital sex is a necessi
ty, he added.
Promiscuity either before or
after marriage will cheapen any
relationship, Guttmacher said,
adding the pill or any other con
traceptive device should not be
used as an excuse to jump in bed.
The new sexual mores of to
day’s youth has created prob
lems in the rising number of un
wanted children, estimated con
servatively at 20 per cent of all
births, Guttmacher said.
Now there are no laws con-
“At first I was opposed to building it for ecological
reasons, but if we had to, I think the next class should,
too!”
Page 2
THE BATTALION
College Station, Texas Wednesday, December 2,1970
For all your inaUrailfce needs
See U. M. Alexander, Jr. ’40
221 S. Main, Ifryhn
823-0742 s
State Farm Insurance Companies - Home Offices Bloomington, 111.
BOOK YOUR CHRISTMAS PARTY
AT THE MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER
A bowl of Wassail will be furnished FREE with each
party or banquet held between December 10 and Christ
mas.
'Quality First”
. i'nuw tnere are no taws con-
U. S. Senate subcommittee the straining con t r aception and there
present liability system is a fail
ure.
He said too few recover their
actual expenses; those with mi
nor hurts are overpaid; victims
with major injuries are under-
are adolescent clinics which sup
ply birth control information to
colleges and high schools, he said.
“We are going to have to ask
ourselves—is being pregnant
pragmatic ?”
Bulletin Board
TONIGHT
Civil Air Patrol will meet at
7:30 p.m. in the conference room
of the Teague Building to hold
an instrument ground school.
Nonmembers may attend, but are
requested to pay a $15 fee.
Entomology Wives Club will
2:30 3 ( 5 )
15 (12)
3:00 3 ( 5 )
3:30 3 ( 5 )
15 (12)
4:00 3 ( 5 )
15 (12)
5:00 3 ( 5 )
15 (12)
5:30
3(5)
15 (12)
Edge of Night
Sesame Street
(PBS)
Gomer Pyle
Town Talk
University
Instructional
Dark Shadows
What’s New
(NET)
General Hospital
Misterogers’
Neighborhood
(NET)
CBS News
Sesame Street
(PBS)
6:00
6:30
3 (5)
3(5)
15 (12)
7:00 3 ( 5 )
8:00
8:30
9:00
10:00
10:30
11:30
15 (12)
3 (5)
-5 (12)
( 5 )
(12)
( 5 )
( 5 )
(5)
Evening News
Courtship of
Eddie’s P’ather
Campus and
Community Today
National Geo
graphic Special
NET Playhouse
Johnny Cash
Homewood (PBS)
Hawaii Five-0
Flick Out (PBS)
Final News
Dan August
Richard Diamond
If you’re on Midwest Video’s cable you are going to see
more. (adv)
meet at 8 p.m. at the home of
Mrs. Carol Everett, 2501 Roun
tree Dr. in Bryan.
THURSDAY
Irving Hometown Club will
meet at 8 p.m. in the Birch Room
of the MSC to plan for the New
Year’s party.
San Angelo-West Texas Home
town Club will meet at 7:30 p.m.
in the MSC.
Texas A&M Motorcycle Club
will meet at 7:30 p.m. in the So
cial Room of the MSC.
Pecan Valley Hometown Club
will meet at 8 p.m. in room 2A
of the MSC.
San Antonio Hometown Club
will meet at 7:30 p.m. in room
145 of the Physics Building to
discuss plans for the Christmas
party.
Dallas Hometown Club will
meet at 8 p.m. in rooms 2A-B
of the MSC to discuss the New
Year’s party.
Sociology Club will meet at
7:30 p.m. in room 104 of the Ag
riculture Building to see a slide
show by Dr. Nelson on the Mid
dle East.
MONDAY
Industrial Education Wives
Club will meet at 8 p.m. at the
home of Dr. and Mrs. Donald
Clark, 3801 Stillmeadow Dr. in
Bryan to elect officers for the
spring semester and hold a “Holi
day Tasting Bee.”
CASA CHAPULTEPEC
OPEN 11:00 A. M. CLOSE 10:00 P. Wf.
1315 COLLEGE AVENUE — PHONE 822-9872
, j SPECIALS GOOD TUE-, WED., THUR.
BEEFTACOS, BEANS - RICE
CHEESE TACOS, BEANS - RICE
:r CHALUPAS WITH GUACAMODE
« CHALUPAS WITH CHEESE - BEANS
3 HOME MADE TAMALES WITH PRIED BEANS
3 BEEF ENCHILARAS, BEANS - RICE
3 CHEESE ENCHILADAS. BEANS - RICE
2 CHILES RELLENOUS WITH SPANISH RICE
AND CHEESE SAUCE
1 GUACAMOLE SALAD - 2 CRISPY TACOS
1 MEXICAN DINNER COMPLETE
FIESTA DINNER
Combination Salad, Beef
Taco, Three Enchiladas,
Beans, Rice Tortillas and
Hot Cheese Dip and Tortilla
Chips.
Regular
$1.50 tP-LI_y
TACO DINNER
Two Beef Tacos, One Chili
Con Q u e s o, Combination
Salad, Tortillas and Hot
Sauce, Cheese Dip and Tortil
la Chips.
Regular Afk
$1.25 WC'
Aul_
QOPimt IT't
USXb.
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FOE/
-rvAofcs -f=ev - SBr
bee.. 3 -<v - s' ,
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BOLD
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POTATOES
CORN A- 89
PRESERVES 39
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FR.OIT COCKTAIL 3 19
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Che Battalion
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EDITOR DAVID MIDDLEBROOKE
Managing Editor Fran Haugen
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Sports Editor Clifford Broyles
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THESE 11 TURN-ABOUTS "ARE KIND OF
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I APPRECIATE YOUR GOING LOlTH ME
By Charles M. Schulz