A chance for us all to learn about our legal rights

WINSTED—The first national law museum will be establishing this October what it hopes to be a new national holiday.

The American Museum of Tort Law in Winsted will host a Tort Law Day celebration on Saturday, Oct. 5, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Winsted United Methodist Church at 639 Main St. 

The program will feature speakers on tort law with regard to police violence and civil rights; sexual assault; sports injuries; climate disruption by polluters; medical malpractice; and privacy invasions.

Museum founder Ralph Nader grew up in Winsted and will speak at the end of the event about the future of trial by jury. The consumer advocate and four-time U.S. presidential candidate spoke to The Lakeville Journal by telephone from his Washington, D.C., office on Friday, Sept. 20. 

He stressed the importance of people being aware of tort law in general.

Nader, 85, quoted his father, who has inspired him in his career, and who had told him: “If you don’t know your rights, you won’t use your rights. If you don’t use your rights, you will lose your rights.” 

‘Tort’ law matters to us all

Nader explained why “tort” law is the essential law that all Americans should understand.

“A lot of tort law is in the news but doesn’t use the word ‘tort,’” Nader said. 

He referenced the 2014 police shooting of Tamir Rice.

“Crimes are torts. In the case of police shootings, the bereaved family of a 12-year-old shot in Cleveland filed a tort lawsuit for the wrongful death.” 

The grand jury’s decision not to criminally indict the two officers prompted a lawsuit, filed by the Rice family, against the two officers and city that was settled in 2016 for $6 million.

Nader said, “Most people don’t know what a tort is.” 

A tort is a term for a civil wrong caused by either negligence or by bad intention, he said. Tort law is the seeking of private civil remedy such as damages, as opposed to criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs punishable by the state.

Who will explain it 

“We have eminent speakers for Tort Law Day,” Nader said. “They are major experts talking about a wide variety of topics, the opioid crisis to sexual assault to contaminated drinking water.”

The event’s keynote address will be delivered by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who has been vocal about protecting individuals’ rights to trial jury. 

Lynne Bernabei of the Washington, D.C., law firm Bernabei & Kabat and who was featured in CBS’s “Whistleblower” series, will give a speech on “Sexual Assault in the MeToo Era.” 

Marc Rotenerg, president of EPIC, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, will discuss “The Rebirth of the Privacy Tort.” 

Ken Reed, sports policy director of the League of Fans (a sports reform project founded by Nader), will deliver a talk on the football concussion controversy called “Sports and Torts.”

Nader is the author of several books, including the 1965 groundbreaking title “Unsafe at Any Speed.” His activism is credited with the passage of landmark consumer-protection legislation such as the Clean Water Act; the Freedom of Information Act; and the Whistleblower Protection Act, among many others.

How citizens are discouraged

Nader said myths about frivolous litigation are often spun by lobbyists to discourage future actions or to encourage smaller settlements.

One example involved a man allegedly using a lawnmower to give himself a haircut and sustaining injuries. Nader said the case was even referenced in a speech by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. 

“Corporate lawyers were on top of it,” Nader said. “But the case was a phony.” 

Tort Museum in Winsted

Tort Law Day is sponsored by the American Museum of Tort Law, the only law museum in the country. 

Opened in 2015, its galleries show interactive, detailed panels about landmark cases and dangerous products that were the subject of litigation. A theater presentation details the evolution of tort law through the decades.

Tort Law Day on Oct. 5 will be held in the nearby church because the museum’s theater’s capacity is 70. If advance registration exceeds the church space, which is about 250 people, Nader said organizers may move the event to the Gilbert School (about three minutes away by car).

Chipping away at rights

“Looming Threats to Civil Justice System” will be discussed by Joanne Doroshow of the Center for Justice & Democracy in New York City. About the topic Nader said: “Eighty percent are coerced to cop a plea. They will take the five years [prison sentence] to wrap it up.” 

Nader said the court system is showing cracks. The National Center for State Courts in Williamsburg, Va., estimates that only 2% of state budgets typically go to the court system. 

“Judges say ‘We don’t have enough facilities and jury pools,’” he said. “Especially in the drug cases, there is a coercive effort [to plea].”

Nader added, “One reason we have the highest per capita jail population is that civil rights have eroded.” 

In 2016, the Prison Policy Initiative, an Easthampton, Mass., think tank, estimated that in the U.S. about 2,298,300 people were incarcerated out of a population of 324.2 million.

Everyone should come

Nader said, “Tort Law Day will be an advanced one-day course in the law of torts or wrongful injury.” He invited the general public: “Come learn how to defend yourself.”

Museum Executive Director Richard Newman commented by phone that the public needs to learn about tort law. 

“Tort law holds wrongdoers responsible and has three benefits,” Newman said. “One, there is compensation. Two, the disclosure of wrongdoing comes to light, secret memorandums are released to the press. Three, there is a deterrence factor. A big settlement discourages similar behaviors.” 

Newman is also the author of “Tort Remedies in Connecticut” and president of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association.

Seating for the Tort Law Day Celebration is limited. To purchase tickets, go to www.tortmuseum.org. Tickets are $25 per person; students and seniors are $10.