Pain And Suffering

The House of Delegates gave its approval last night to a bill that would let some asbestos victims collect higher damages for pain and suffering -- a measure whose largest single beneficiary would be Peter G. Angelos.The legislation, which passed on an 84-52 vote, faces long odds in the Senate, where a powerful committee chairman has prevented action on the bill.Proponents say the bill would remove a cap on damages that unfairly penalizes some victims of asbestos-related diseases and their families because of the long time it takes their illnesses to develop.

Maryland business groups lined up solidly yesterday against a bill that would lift a cap on damages for pain and suffering in hundreds of cases brought by victims of asbestos-related cancer.Some of the state's leading industry lobbyists took their turns denouncing the legislation, whose chief beneficiary would be the law firm of Peter G. Angelos, at a hearing of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee."This is the kind of legislation that sends shivers down the spines of a lot of business people," said J. William Pitcher, representing pharmaceutical manufacturers.

IT'S NOT RIGHT. Some 200,000 Maryland drivers break the law by not buying car insurance, but when they are in an accident, some of them sue and collect big awards for noneconomic "pain and suffering" damages.They are gaming the system.Not only are these uninsured drivers -- between 5 and 9 percent of Maryland motorists -- taking unfair advantage of state law, they are forcing up the price of car insurance for other motorists.A bill in the state Senate -- it sailed through the House on a 104-20 vote -- would let uninsured motorists collect medical and out-of-pocket losses from an accident, but not pain and suffering awards if they knowingly avoid buying car insurance.

WASHINGTON -- In a year when big-ticket topics such as tobacco lawsuits and highway spending are expected to dominate Congress, a low-profile proposal to revamp auto insurance could become the issue that really pulls at people's purse strings.The auto legislation would cut insurance premiums an average of 32 percent, according to a study last year by Congress' Joint Economic Committee. That would mean savings of $243 a year for the average driver -- or nearly $45 billion a year nationwide.

An article in Thursday's editions of The Sun about a Baltimor Circuit Court jury's awarding $10.2 million to a Baltimore woman and her son incorrectly stated that part of the award was for punitive damages. Those damages were for pain and suffering.The Sun regrets the errors.Pub Date: 11/01/97

WHILE TAKING part in Jewish religious services I have often wondered why we devote so much effort to praising God. Doubtless Christians and Muslims do the same -- Muslims' declaration that ''Allah is great'' immediately comes to mind, as do the Christian adorations of Jesus Christ. But I am particularly aware of it in the prayers of my fellow Jews.On a typical Sabbath, our prayers practically gush in praise of God. It seems that we cannot find enough exemplary things to say about God, not enough adjectives to describe the praiseworthiness of God, the glories of God, the grandeur of God. Even the basic prayer of mourning, the Kaddish, begins with ''Magnified and sanctified be the name of God . . .'' and includes ''Exalted and honored be the name of the Holy One.''Does God really need our singing His (or Her)

A Baltimore County jury has found two companies negligent in the 1992 death of Martin Wirtz, a mechanic who climbed inside a tank truck to save a friend and died inhaling fumes from chemical waste.After nearly two hours of deliberation Thursday, the jury ordered the companies -- Farmington Freight Inc. and Cargill Inc. -- to pay Wirtz's estate $146,249 for medical and funeral bills and for pain and suffering and mental anguish.The suit was filed by Wirtz's sister, Linda Wirtz of Florida, on behalf of his estate.

In a major setback for shipyard, steel and construction workers suffering from asbestos-induced illnesses, a state appeals court ruled yesterday that the thousands of suits they and their families have filed are subject to a state limit on pain and suffering.The Court of Special Appeals slashed from $3.5 million to $500,000 the judgment that a Baltimore jury awarded in 1995 to two widows of asbestos victims. The court ruled that the legislature's limit on noneconomic "pain and suffering" damages applies to any suit filed on behalf of a victim who died after the limit took effect Oct. 1, 1994.

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration warned the Supreme Court yesterday that a ruling to let doctors aid in suicide would lead to needless deaths across America, ending the lives of many vulnerable people.Predicting that assisted suicide could not be controlled once allowed, the administration advocated power for states to outlaw the practice -- preferably by a total ban, with no exceptions.Any exception, the administration contended, "will lead to the deaths of many persons who are not competent, who are not terminally ill, and who do not make truly voluntary requests for assistance" in suicide.

Over the years, my position on real vs. artificial Christmas trees has been well-documented.To me, nothing says Christmas like a 4-foot chunk of dull green polycarbonate garishly decorated with bordello-red lights and clunky balls the color of a metallic blue Firebird.Top that baby off with some of that fake snow stuff you get at Safeway for 69 cents a can and, brother, you're ushering in the holidays with style.Unfortunately, my wife is one of those reactionaries who insists on having a real Christmas tree.