The cost of the Tort System

From today's Washington Post:

Tillinghast-Towers Perrin numbers I cited last week, less than half of the $246 billion that it consumed in 2003 went to compensate victims of misfortune, because more than half was eaten up in administrative and legal costs.

The CBO generally shies away from reaching policy verdicts, but this time it came close. "The current tort system seems to be an inefficient way to compensate victims," it stated.