neys who filed frivolous suits. Contingent fee ar-
rangements were also limited so that attorneys would
have less incentive to seek unusually large damages
for clients.
Impact Some of the measures passed, such as caps
on damage awards, both compensatory and punitive,
have modestly reduced lawsuits, damage awards,
and liability insurance premiums. Most of the re-
forms, however, have had little or no effect. Re-
search has indicated that publicity about the “litiga-
tion explosion” may be changing the attitudes of
juries and judges toward plaintiffs in personal injury
cases. Juries have become increasingly suspicious of
plaintiffs in tort cases, and judges in product liability
cases have curtailed some of the litigious policies
of the 1960’s, 1970’s, or 1980’s, perhaps in reaction
to publicity generated by tort reformers. Conse-
quently, numbers of claims have dropped and plain-
tiffs’ awards have become more difficult to obtain.
Further Reading
Burke, Thomas F.Lawyers, Lawsuits, and Legal Rights:
The Battle over Litigation in American Society. Berke-
ley: University of California Press, 2002. Describes
the policies that promote the use of litigation in
resolving disputes and implementing public pol-
icy. Contains detailed endnotes and numerous
scholarly references.
Church, George J. “Sorry, Your Insurance Has Been
Cancelled.”Time127, no. 12 (March 24, 1986):
16-26. An overview of the scenarios leading to
tort reform and several of the proposals for re-
form.
Daniels, Stephen, and Joanne Martin.Civil Juries and
the Politics of Reform. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern
University Press, 1995. Analysis of patterns of jury
verdicts in areas such as medical malpractice,
product liability, and punitive damages within the
context of the larger political and academic de-
bate over tort reform.
Depperschmidt, Thomas O. “State Tort and Insur-
ance Reform: The Net Result of Two Years Ef-
fort.”Journal of Forensic Economics2, no. 1 (1989):
23-46. A well-researched scholarly article on tort
reform, with numerous references.
Lee, Han-Duck, Mark J. Browne, and Joan T. Schmit.
“How Does Joint and Several Tort Reform Affect
the Rate of Tort Filings? Evidence from the State
Courts.”The Journal of Risk and Insurance61, no. 2
(1994): 295-316. A scholarly article emphasizing
the doctrine of joint and several liability in tort
reform.
Marcia J. WeissSee also Business and the economy in the United
States; Crime.Tower Commission
Identification The board appointed by U.S.
president Ronald Reagan to investigate the
Iran-Contra affair
As the first official inquir y into the Iran-Contra affair, the
Tower Commission uncovered the basic facts of the arms
sales to Iran and the diversion of proceeds to the Nicara-
guan Contras and reported these facts candidly to Reagan
and the American public.
U.S. foreign policy in the 1980’s faced twin threats
from civil wars in Central America and growing ter-
rorism in the Middle East. In June, 1986, media re-
ports began to appear about allegations of U.S. aid
to the right-wing Contra guerrillas operating in Nic-
aragua against the left-wing Sandinista government.
In October, 1986, attention focused in particular on
an American crew member who was captured by the
Sandinistas after his plane was shot down during a
supply mission to the Contras. This incident in turn
touched off a crisis for the Ronald Reagan adminis-
tration because of the possibility that the U.S. gov-
ernment had been providing aid to the Contras in
contravention of the Boland Amendment passed by
Congress to ban such assistance. Aides of Attorney
General Edwin Meese III visited the offices of the
National Security Council (NSC) and discovered a
memorandum that confirmed that there had been
arms sales to Iran and that some of the proceeds had
been diverted to the Contras.
On October 26, 1986, Meese informed President
Reagan of the diversion. Not knowing the full extent
of the actions taken by his NSC staff, and under pres-
sure to furnish answers to Congress and the media,
Reagan appointed on November 26, 1986, a three-
member commission chaired by former senator
John Tower and including former secretary of state
Edmund Muskie and retired Air Force lieutenant
general Brent Scowcroft. Initially given a mandate to
complete its work in just sixty days, the commission976 Tower Commission The Eighties in America