Argumentation in support of my contentions is set forth in this article of mine in this blog: Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics?
The program brochure indicates that many of the keynote addresses, sessions and presentations scheduled for the 17th Annual Business Ethics and Compliance Conference of the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association being held next week in Chicago will cover topics, discuss issues and raise questions regarding which my contentions, if true, have significant relevance. I have sent emails to a number of the program speakers in which I make comments and ask questions connected to my contentions. I think conference attendees should be interested in the same. The emails I have sent are reproduced below in the order the presentations by the conference speakers appear in the program brochure. Any responses from the speakers will be reproduced below following the email sent to the speaker.
From: RDShatt
To: ezimiles@daylightforensic.com
Sent: 9/15/2009 7:43:35 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Ethics and Compliance in the New Economy: How to Do More with Less
Dear Ms. Zimiles,
Relative to your above keynote address at the ECOA conference next week, I would make the contention that the United States civil law liability system undermines business ethics and results in a substantial diversion and waste of corporate resources that could be deployed much more beneficially in other ways to try to accomplish the objective of improving corporate behavior. My argumentation in support of this contention is set forth at length in this online article of mine: Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics?
If you read my article, I would be very interested to hear what you think.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: gbrown@bakerdonelson.com
Sent: 9/15/2009 9:16:17 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: The Great Debate: Is the Current Global Financial Crisis Primarily the Result of
Dear Messrs. Brown and Gnazzo,
I will not be at the ECOA conference next week and I will miss your respective presentations of the "heart of the problem" and "solutions" in "The Great Debate: Is the Current Global Financial Crisis Primarily the Result of a Series of Bad Business Decisions or a Systemic Decline in Business Integrity?"
I thought the rating agency scandal last fall would be a Katrina wake up call for business ethics professionals, and I tried to get a reaction from the ECOA on the matter. See this posting in my blog.
I hope I can get transcripts of your presentations to see the diagnoses and prescriptions that the two of you have developed.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
cc. Mr. James D. Berg
From: RDShatt
To: dboehme@cslg.com, wswenson@CSLG.com
Sent: 9/15/2009 10:49:50 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Agony Chat Room: Tough Times & What Matters Most
Dear Ms. Boehme, Mr. Swenson, Ms. van Beek and Mr. Grubb
The brochure description of your above interactive discussion scheduled for the ECOA conference next week refers to "cost-cutting, pressures to deliver results, and a distracted management" contributing to "an environment in dire need of a strong compliance and ethics program" and raises the question of "how tomanage pressures to downsize compliance costs at exactly the time when bad judgments are most likely to occur".
I contend that the United States civil law liability system undermines business ethics, is an unjustifiable distraction of manangement, and results in a substantial diversion and waste of corporate resources that could be deployed much more beneficially in other ways to try to accomplish the objective of improving corporate behavior. My argumentation in support of this contention is set forth at length in this online article of mine: Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics?
You might want to read my article and consider whether some help for today's "dire need" and tomorrow's hopefully improved environment might be obtained through advocacy of change in the civil law liability realm.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: James.OToole@du.edu
Sent: 9/15/2009 12:57:23 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor
Dear Professor O'Toole,
I have a couple of candor oriented questions I would like to ask you, which are prompted by my seeing that you are delivering a keynote address at the ECOA conference next week entitled "How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor."
First, how can there be candor about what is ethical and what is not unethical when judges, in cases of alleged corporate wrongdoing, all too readily and frequently stand back and allow management, on behalf of itself and involved employees, to settle the cases by using funds belonging to parties innocent of the alleged wrongdoing (such as shareholders), with the result there is no determination or guidance from the law about what is right or wrong, ethical or unethical? (If you would like some examples of what I am talking about, see upwards of ten or more legal cases discussed at links on the left hand side at this webpage under J and J1 through J9.)
Second, how can there be candor if management has an unacknowledged personal motivation that the law stand back from making such determinations and from providing such guidance?
Third, how can there be candor if corporate ethics officers are unable to speak up about the foregoing?
If the above questions sound as if they are extreme in their implication and not credible and legitimate, I would suggest they should be further explored to determine their validity. If you are interested, I would be very pleased to engage in such further exploration with you.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: abonimeblanc@daylightforensic.com, Jacqueline_Brevard@merck.com
Sent: 9/15/2009 2:51:23 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Ethics and the Board: Integrating Integrity into Business Strategy
Dear Ms. Bonime-Blanc and Ms. Brevard,
I have comments that are prompted by my seeing the session that you be conducting at the ECOA conference next week entitled "Ethics and the Board: Integrating Integrity into Business Strategy."
It seems to me that boards of directors have abdicated their ethics related responsibilities in the way they settle class actions lawsuits alleging corporate wrongdoing that avoids legal determinations and guidance about what is right and wrong, ethical and unethical. Their willingness to do this is understandable, particularly because the settlement uses funds belonging to parties innocent of the alleged wrongdoing (such as shareholders), which is at no cost to management and involved employees, whereas legal determinations could result in a cost to them. (If you would like some examples of what I am talking about, see upwards of ten or more legal cases discussed at links on the left hand side at this webpage under J and J1 through J9.)
The description of your session states, "It is paramount for the governing body of a business to take the full measure of its responsibility and comprehend and appreciate all of the ways in which business integrity and governance intersect with business strategy." I think this should include comprehending and appreciating how management has a personal motivation in how it settles class action lawsuits.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: info@ethadv.com
Sent: 9/17/2009 5:16:09 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: For Mr. Blass: re The Moral Complexities of Ethical Decision-making
Dear Mr. Blass,
The brochure description of your above session scheduled for next week's ECOA conference asks the below questions:
• Why are employees susceptible to unethical actions?• How do they rationalize
taking the wrong path?• Why are ethics and compliance policies not enough?• What
can ethics and compliance practitioners do to improve their organizations?• How
can they influence executive management and key leadership?
There are many situational factors that bear on the answers to these questions. Have you considered the situational factor of the civil law liability system, and how it promotes or undermines ethical corporate behavior and how perceptions about it affect employee psychology and decision making?
If you have not considered it and are interested in delving into the civil law liability situational factor, you might read this online article of mine: Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics?.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: ed@ethicalleadershipgroup.com
Sent: 9/17/2009 5:22:11 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Codes of Conduct - A New Best Practice Model
Dear Mr. Petry,
The ECOA brochure description for your session ("Codes of Conduct - A New Best Practice Model") at next week's conference refers to employee dissatisfaction with company ethics codes being too long, and also the codes sometimes not aligning with the company's risk profile or what employees see as their most common ethics issues.
Ethics codes need to interface with and be responsive to, various situational factors that bear on employee conduct. These include, for example, the criminal law. Another situational factor I think is the civil law liability system, which I think undermines business ethics. (See my online article on this subject Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics?.)
In your designing and developing ethics codes, and field testing them with employees, have you given any consideration about how the codes should interface and be responsive to the situational factor of the civil law liability system as it bears or should bear on employee conduct?
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: steve@ethicsone.com, bolson@theecoa.org
Sent: 9/17/2009 8:33:03 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Tell Me a Story: Using Anecdote and Illustration, etc.
Dear Messrs. Cohen, Olson and Gnazzo,
Hopefully, in your ECOA presentation next week ("Tell Me a Story: Using Anecdote andIllustration as an Educational Tool in Ethics and Compliance"), you will relate numerous anecdotal and illustrative stories that E&C practitioners have advantageously used as educational tools.
Such stories are sorely needed to counteract widespread confusion and uncertainty for employees in thousands of companies that are sown by the United States civil law liability system, a matter that is explicated in this online article of mine Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics?.
Take the Merck Vioxx story as an example. I recently read a book by one Tom Nesi about Vioxx entitled Poison Pills: The Untold Story of the Vioxx Scandal." The book depicts many different actors who contributed to whatever wrongdoing, if any, Merck perpetrated. These included top level corporate management who have a job to produce profits for shareholders, the Merck product development department and its employees who had the job of conceiving and carrying out product development including Vioxx, Merck’s marketing department that designed and implemented the marketing plan for Vioxx, the Merck sales force whose job was to be an enthusiastic “boots on the ground” component of the marketing effort, physicians who were recruited to promote Vioxx in medical association meetings and seminars, Merck researchers who had an economic bias in favor of Vioxx, and outside researchers who questioned Vioxx.
I ask you, and you might ask your colleague Ms. Brevard, what have the Merck employees who were involved with Vioxx learned about what is right and wrong, ethical and unethical, in the respective activities they conducted related to Vioxx? Is the Merck sales force supposed to reduce its enthusiasm in promoting Merck drugs now? How is the Merck marketing department supposed to change its ways? What are employees at other drug companies to take away from the Vioxx story?
To me it seems Merck employees are left with uncertainty, speculation and confusion about how they should carry out their jobs, subject possibly to "defensive" corporate practices Merck may adopt in confronting the in terrorum response that the civil law liability system engenders (just like the "defensive" medicine that is being practiced that is a driver of escalating health care costs currently in the national spotlight in the health care reform debate).
The Merck Vioxx story was a huge one, but is only one of thousands of stories in which the civil law liability system sows uncertainty and confusion throughout the business world concerning what is right and wrong, ethical and unethical. For a few of these stories I have taken a personal interest in, see upwards of ten or more discussed at links on the left hand side at this webpage under J and J1 through J9.
What do you think?
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: info@icca-corporateaccountability.org
Sent: 9/17/2009 5:12:58 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: For Dr. Sethi: Re Emerging Trends in Corporate Social Responsibility
Dear Dr. Sethi,
I would like to make a comment concerning your presentation ("Emerging Trends in Corporate Social Responsibility – A Paradigm Shift from Corporate Social Responsibility to Corporate Accountability") that is scheduled for next week's ECOA conference.
I contend that the civil law liability system greatly muddies what corporations are supposed to be accountable for.
This is because, in too many cases of alleged corporate wrongdoing, judges stand back and allow management, on behalf of itself and involved employees, to settle the cases (by using funds belonging to parties innocent of the alleged wrongdoing, such as shareholders), with the result there is no determination or guidance from the law about what is right or wrong, ethical or unethical. (If you would like some examples of what I am talking about, see upwards of ten or more legal cases discussed at links on the left hand side at this webpage under J and J1 through J9. For more elaboration about why this phenomenon occurs, see this online article of mine Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics? )
Do you think the civil law liability system muddies, if not makes opaque, what corporations are accountable for or are supposed to be accountable for?
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: courtney.mcburney@alston.com, paul.monnin@dlapiper.com
Sent: 9/17/2009 8:57:05 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Separating the Need-to-Know from the Noise: Critical Legislative and Judicial De
Dear Ms. McBurney and Mr. Monnin,
The ECOA brochure description for your presentation next week ("Separating the Need-to-Know from the Noise: Critical Legislative and Judicial Developments Impacting Ethics and Compliance") states:
A new administration and an uncertain economic climate have led to calls forI hope these developments that you will report on have been and will be beneficial for corporate ethics and compliance goals.
increased oversight, heralding legislation and regulations that will not only
affect individual industries but also impact the world of ethics and compliance
as a whole. At the same time, courts have weighed in on critical issues
concerning investigations, issuing rulings with broad repercussions.
If there have been good developments, I believe there is a broad and persistent swath of failure in the US civil liability law system that operates in way that undermines business ethics, and I think that judges and lawmakers are failing ethics officers and their corporations in the latter's efforts to try to improve corporate behavior. See my online article Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics?.
What do you think?
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: weberj@duq.edu
Sent: 9/17/2009 6:19:48 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Building a Bridge between Recent Discoveries in E&C Research and Their Practical
Dear Mr. Cash and Dr. Weber,
The ECOA brochure description of your presentation next week ("Building a Bridge between Recent Discoveries in E&C Research and Their Practical Implications") says, "There is ongoing research exploring ethics and compliance programs and the effectiveness of these programs on employee behavior and avoidance of litigation."
I think the United States civil law liability system undermines business ethics (see my online article Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics?).
I would like to ask whether you know of any research or scholarship on the suggestions raised in my article.
I would further like to know whether you have a view about the matter yourselves, including whether the civil law liability system results in the adoption of costly "defensive" corporate practices (like the practice of "defensive" medicine which is currently in the national spotlight as a driver of escalating health care costs that the United States is trying to get under control), and results in the diversion and waste of limited corporate resources that could be better deployed in other ways to achieve ethical corporate behavior.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: weberj@duq.edu
To: RDShatt@aol.comCC: craig.cash@lmco.com
Sent: 9/17/2009 9:54:08 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: RE: Building a Bridge between Recent Discoveries in E&C Research and Their Practical
Dear Mr. Shattuck –
Thank you for your inquiry regarding the focus of the Weber-Cash presentation forthcoming at the ECOA annual meeting. While your point is interesting, our presentation does not address this issue. We take a more managerial, rather than legal, analysis when attempting to provide academic research to ethics and compliance officers who will be attending the meeting.
Sincerely,
Jim Weber, Ph.D.
Professor of Business Ethics and Management
From: RDShatt
To: weberj@duq.edu
CC: craig.cash@lmco.com
Sent: 9/17/2009 5:43:23 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Re: Building a Bridge between Recent Discoveries in E&C Research and Their Pr...
Dear Dr. Weber,
Thank you very much for replying.
I am not sure I see that a corporation and its employees interfacing with the law, be it criminal or civil, calls for less managerial analysis than other ethics and compliance issues.
For example, in this 2006 research article by Professors Smith, Simpson and Huang, entitled "Why Managers Fail To Do The Right Thing: An Empirical Study Of Unethical & Illegal Conduct," the authors investigated and concluded that, "t]he threat of formal sanctions appears to operate indirectly, influencing ethical evaluations and outcome expectancies." The authors elaborate:
To the extent that such knowledge [of opinions of others] will carry with it
negative evaluations by others (reinforced by the educative effect of formal
law) or, conversely, positive assessments by others who may hold negative views
of the law (it is intrusive, unfair, or irrelevant to business), the existence
of formal sanctions (and the anticipated reaction of others to the law) guides
his or her sense of likely social disapproval or opprobrium.
I am interested in how those observations might be extended to civil law liabilities,
I have written an article that I am trying to get published urging business ethicists to investigate more how the civil law liability system promotes or does not promote business ethics. I have not found any scholarship or research on the subject and wanted to know whether you knew of any.
For your information, I have written emails to numerous of the speakers for next week's conference. I am reproducing these emails in a blog I have (see this webpage) and plan to copy any responses I receive from speakers into my blog as well. (If you prefer that I not copy your responding email there, please let me know, and I will not do so.)
I hope your presentation goes well next week.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: julie.dimauro@complinet.com
Sent: 9/17/2009 6:06:50 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Please forward this to Mr. Scott McClesky; Managing Editor, North America
[Please forward this email to Mr. Scott McClesky; Managing Editor, North America, Complinet. Thank you.]
Subj: Following the Money: How and Why Incentives Get Organizations in Trouble
Dear Mr. McCleskey,
The brochure description for your ECOA conference presentation next week ("Following the Money: How and Why Incentives Get Organizations in Trouble") states:
Oftentimes, “irrational” behavior, while contrary to the long-term interests of
the organization, may be perfectly rational interms of the incentives which
operate on the individual making decisions.. . ..Regulators and internal
compliance office have often failed to examine the role of these incentives, or
have limited themselves to superficial transparency requirements regarding
senior management compensation levels.
This past year's financial debacle has revealed how senior management, in order to gain current income for themselves, subjected shareholder value (as well as value belonging to third parties outside the corporation) to unjustifiable risk that resulted in very large financial losses for those shareholders and third parties.
I would like to point out an additional way that senior management exploits corporate asests for its own benefit and to the detriment of shareholder interests of the organization, which is that management is willing to "double up" losses on shareholders. This has happened when, not only has management committed shareholder equity to excessively risky activities (so management can get current income for itself), such risky activities have further entailed corporate wrongdoing (again, gaining management current income) and the corporation gets sued by third parties resulting in shareholder losses getting "doubled up." As a good example, read this analysis I wrote about Enron's smartest guys, crooks, victims and other saps.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: info@pcaobus.org
Sent: 9/17/2009 7:38:40 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Please forward to Barbara Hannigan, Ethics Officer and Senior Compliance Counsel
[Please forward this email to Ms. Barbara Hannigan, Ethics Officer and Senior Compliance Counsel, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Thank you.]
Subj: The PCAOB: A Case Study onEvolving Regulatory Oversight in the New Economic World
Dear Ms. Hannigan and Ms. Boykin,
The evolving realm of regulatory oversight exemplified by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board( “PCAOB”) is an important topic for ECOA members at next week's conference.
Such regulatory oversight by the PCAOB in carrying out its purpose to protect investors and the public interest by promoting informative, fair, and independent audit reports, hopefully is and will be rational and reasonable.
In contrast, some of the judicial oversight practiced by judges in this country concerning alleged accounting fraud is absurd, and it results in an outrageous abuse of investors that regularly goes on, at least in certain cookie cutter class action litigation. As examples of this cookie cutter lawsuit abuse, here are links to two cases that involved me personally and letters I wrote in which I tried to complain vociferously to the judge and others, but to no avail: class action against Xerox; class action against Monster Worldwide,Inc. A further humdinger that did not involve me is this one against Tyco.
If nothing else, those working in ethics and compliance need to be award of the failures and sometimes absurdity of how some judges purport to go about protecting investors in matters involving alleged accounting fraud, among other things.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: jkaplan@kaplanwalker.com
Sent: 9/17/2009 4:57:44 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Behavioral Ethics & Compliance
Dear Messrs. Kaplan, Broughton and Mumford,
The ECOA brochure description indicates that your session next week ("Behavioral Ethics & Compliance") will be about "developing innovative program techniques and in enhancing high-level support from within their companies" and will "explore ways in which a behavioral ethics and compliance approach can be used to secure stronger governmental support of the work of ethics and compliance officers, and will initiate the development of an agenda for ECOA taking a leadership role in this effort."
I believe that judges, in administering the civil law liability system, do not support the work of ethics and compliance officers, and there is not high level support in corporations to get judges to support that work of ethics and compliance officers. For explication of said belief, see this online article of mine Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics? I think the ECOA should take a leadership role in trying to get judges to support better the work of ethics and compliance officers.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: info@business-ethics.org
Sent: 9/17/2009 5:46:38 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Please forward to Ms. Lori Tansey Martens, President
Please forward this email to Lori Tansey Martens, President, International Business Ethics Institute. Thank you.
Subj: ECO presentation "Don’t Leave ‘em Speechless: How to Create and Sustain a Speak-Up Culture"
Dear Ms. Martens and Mr. Benjamin,
Related to your presentation ("Don’t Leave ‘em Speechless: How to Create and Sustain a Speak-Up Culture") scheduled for the ECOA conference next week, I would like to suggest something that ethics officers ought to speak up to senior executives about.
It seems to me that senior managements have abdicated their ethics related responsibilities in the way they settle class actions lawsuits alleging corporate wrongdoing that avoids legal determinations and guidance about what is right and wrong, ethical and unethical. Their willingness to do this is understandable, particularly because the settlement uses funds belonging to parties innocent of the alleged wrongdoing (such as shareholders), which is at no cost to management and involved employees, whereas legal determinations could result in a cost to them. (If you would like some analysis and examples of what I am talking about, see this online article of mine Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics? and also take a look at upwards of ten or more legal cases discussed at links on the left hand side at this webpage under J and J1 through J9.)
Second, I believe that senior management has an unacknowledged personal motivation that the law stand back from making such determinations and from providing such guidance, because that aids management in not being held accountable.
Third, given the foregoing, corporate ethics officers may be unable to speak up and tell management that the civil law liability system undermines business ethics.
Do you agree with the foregoing, or any part of the foregoing?
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: twhite@ethicsandbusiness.org
Sent: 9/17/2009 5:09:03 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Ethics’ Glass Ceiling: Why the U.S. Business Ethics Movement Hasn’t Been
Dear Professor White,
Thank you for your below reply to my email of Monday.
I noticed you will be giving a presentation at next week's ECOA conference that is entitled "Ethics’ Glass Ceiling: Why the U.S. Business Ethics Movement Hasn’t Been More Successful."
While the civil law liability system may be outside your area of expertise for purposes of making a submission to a court as I inquired about, I think, relative to your ECOA talk, you might give further consideration to whether it could be a contributing factor to why the U.S. business ethics movement has not been more successful. You may even be able to discern in this subject matter an example of "a weak allegiance to ethics at the top of corporations" that the ECOA brochure description of your presentation mentions.
I hope you have a successful presentation next week.
Again thanks for replying.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
In a message dated 9/14/2009 7:17:12 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
twhite@ethicsandbusiness.org writes:
Mr. Shattuck,
Thanks for your note.
Unfortunately, I am overcommitted these days and unable to take on new projects.
Also, this is a good bit outside my area of expertise.
Best,
T White
From: RDShatt@aol.com [mailto:RDShatt@aol.com] Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 4:03 AMTo: twhite@lmu.eduSubject: Seeking business ethics expert in Los
Angeles
Dear Professor White,
I am writing this email to you in your
capacity as Director, Center for Ethics and Business, and as the Hilton
Professor of Business Ethics, at the LMU/LA College of Business Administration.
This email concerns a class action lawsuit that is pending in the United States
District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division, against
AmericaOnLine, and that is described at http://legal.web.aol.com/Footersettlement.pdf/
.
I believe that class action litigation such as that pending against AOL
undermines business ethics. My argumentation in support of this contention is
set forth at length in this online article of mine: Does
the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics?
I am trying to
find a business ethics expert in Los Angeles who would be interested in joining
with me in making a submission to the district court judge that would argue how
the class action lawsuit against AOL the judge is overseeing undermines business
ethics and is counterproductive to promoting ethical corporate behavior.
Would you be interested?
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
From: RDShatt
To: dhennelly@callces.com
Sent: 9/17/2009 9:02:38 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Using Ethics and Compliance Risk Assessment as a Strategic Driver
Dear Ms. Hennelly,
The ECOA brochure description of your session ("Using Ethics and Compliance Risk Assessment as a Strategic Driver") at next week's conference says:
A proactive approach to ethics and compliance risk assessment and and management can help avoid costly, reactive approaches to risk mitigation, and help protect
a business’ reputation and brand. Ongoing assessment and management of
enterprise-wide risks are also critical to prioritizing the commitment of
limited resources, by helping ensure that mitigation activities are focused on
the most significant risks first.
I contend that the United States civil law liability system improperly distorts risk assessment, results in the adoption of costly "defensive" corporate practices (like the practice of "defensive" medicine which is currently in the national spotlight as a driver of escalating health care costs that the United States is trying to get under control), and results in the diversion and waste of limited corporate resources that could be better deployed in other ways to promote ethical corporate behavior.
For further explanation of my contention, see this online article of mine Does the Civil Liability System Undermine Business Ethics?.
What do you think?
Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
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