It Figures

$261 Billion
The total amount of U.S. tort costs in 2005, according to the 2006 Update on U.S. Tort Cost Trends from the Tillinghast business of Towers Perrin. The amount adds up to about $880 per person, $4 less per person than in 2004. The growth rate of tort costs in 2005 was 0.5 percent, while the growth rate in 2004 was 5.7 percent and 5.5 percent in 2003.

A decade-plus decline in auto accident frequency was cited as one reason for the reduction in tort costs. Auto accidents represent the single largest portion of tort costs in the U.S., the report said.

4
The number of juveniles cited for criminal mischief in Marfa, Texas, after a caller to the Texas Arson Hotline alleged that the four were involved in setting a bag of trash on fire on a Marfa high school football coach’s front porch on the evening of Oct. 23, 2006. While the damage was minimal, the incident brought in law enforcement officers who placed Arson Hotline Reward signs at Marfa High School. All four were taken in for questioning and cited. The informant was paid reward money by the hotline.

The incident is the second this year where informants have called the hotline and suspected arsonists have been rounded up, according to the Texas Advisory Council on Arson. The Arson Hotline number is 1-877-4-FIRE-45.

Topics Texas