Few frivolous lawsuits noted in survey

Saturday, January 28th 2006, 3:17 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ State Senator Charlie Laster says a survey he took of Oklahoma judges indicates frivolous lawsuits may not be nearly as big a problem in the state as some might believe.

Laster says more than 68 percent of judges who responded say they consider less than five percent of cases to be frivolous.

When asked what the Legislature should do to improve the state's civil justice system, the top response from judges was ``leave it alone or do nothing.''

Laster says he sent the survey to 147 district and associate district judges in the state and received 80 responses.

Other key survey results show that 95 percent of judges say they think juries are either capable or very capable of reaching a fair and reasonable decision.

About 89 percent of judges say they don't believe non-economic damages should be capped at 250-thousand-dollars.