Congratulations, Governor Doyle

You're making Wisconsin a national leader.

On Jan. 6, Gov. Doyle vetoed a bill that would have held manufacturers liable for damages caused only by products they'd made, in most cases. Without the bill, manufacturers that once produced lead paint, for example, can be held liable in Wisconsin for virtually any lead poisoning--a plaintiff doesn't need to prove that the paint was made by the manufacturer, or even that his lead poisoning was caused by paint, as opposed to, say, lead-contaminated soil or lead pipes.

"These vetoes will negate all of these legislative efforts and will make Wisconsin the litigation capital of America," said Ted Kanavas, a state senator who chairs the committee aimed at economic development in Wisconsin.

Gov. Doyle is also running for re-election this year in what is widely expected to be a tight race. His two GOP opponents have both said they'd sign liability-reform bills if elected. The stage is set for a showdown. If Gov. Doyle triumphs, the only true winners will be lawyers.

Three key legal issues are at stake in this election as a result of the governor's vetoes. The first relates to the admissibility of expert testimony in court. Under Wisconsin law, such testimony is admissible even when the judge believes it is unreliable. Juries determine on their own whether to consider such testimony. In other words, junk science is fully admissible in Wisconsin.

That policy--created by the courts, corrected by a bill, but retained by Gov. Doyle's veto--enables a researcher in an obesity case against a fast-food restaurant to say that, based on a single study of rat behavior, cheeseburgers are as addictive as heroin to humans.

Then there is the case of caps on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases. Injured plaintiffs can always recover all of their actual damages, but for the past 10 years, a Wisconsin statute has capped noneconomic damages (such as pain and suffering) at $350,000, indexed to inflation.

Special secondary kudos to formerly moderate Justice Patrick Crooks...