LOBBYIST RENEWS PUSH FOR CAP ON AWARDS
Apr 13, 1999
April 13, 1999
The Montgomery Advertiser
Lobbyist Renews Push for Cap on Awards
By Mike Cason
Montgomery Advertiser
A business lobbyist renewed the push on Monday to limit how much money
juries can award to punish wrongdoers in civil cases.
John McMillan, a timber industry lobbyist and head of the Alabama Civil
Justice Reform Committee, urged the Legislature to pass a bill capping
punitive awards at three times the financial damage to a victim. There
is no limit for punitive damages under current state law.
"We still have a huge lawsuit abuse problem in Alabama," McMillan said.
The president of Alabama's plaintiffs' lawyer organization, meanwhile,
said limits aren't needed because punitive damages are already a rarity.
"Every year we seem to have the perennial issue of tort reform,"
said Gregory Breedlove, president of the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association.
"We believe there's no reason for tort reform in Alabama."
Breedlove cited statistics from the state court system's 1997 annual
report: Of 41,670 civil cases filed in Alabama circuit courts, only 110
resulted in punitive damage awards, which totaled $ 49.8 million. Three
cases had punitive damage awards of $ 1 million or more.
"Alabama's laws are already decidedly in favor of businesses
over consumers," Breedlove said. "It's extremely difficult
for a plaintiff to go to court and win a verdict in a civil case."
The state judicial system does not yet have statistics available for 1998.
In 1997, only 2 percent of civil cases filed ever reached a jury. Of those,
only 1 in 16 resulted in punitive damages. The plaintiffs prevailed in
48 percent of cases decided by jury, while the defendants prevailed in
44 percent.
Matt McDonald, chief attorney for the Alabama Civil Justice Reform Committee,
said most businesses settle lawsuits for fear of going to court.
"Alabama is viewed as a state very friendly to plaintiffs,"
McDonald said.
Tort reform bills have died in the Legislature for at least the last four
years. They have typically passed the House, moved to the Senate Judiciary
Committee and died there, never emerging for a vote by the Senate. Tort
reform advocates blamed Gov. Don Siegelman, who was then lieutenant governor,
and influence by the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association for killing the bills.
McMillan said he believed new Senate leadership, with Lt. Gov. Steve Windom
and President Pro Tem Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, would make sure tort reform
got a fair shot.
Barron said they would.
"I think the chances are very good of passing some bills," Barron said.
"I feel very strong that we must have some reasonable tort reform."
TORT REFORM BILLS
The Alabama Civil Justice Reform Committee is proposing seven bills to
change the state's civil justice laws:
Capping punitive damages at three times compensatory damages
Capping damages for mental anguish at three times compensatory damages
and requiring corroborating testimony from medical professionals
Placing a two-year statute of limitations on civil fraud, with an extension
to four years in some cases
Requiring that defendants have a chance for a hearing before a civil case
is certified as a class action
Requiring civil cases to be heard in counties where the wrong occurred
or where the defendant is located
Changing the interest rate that accrues on damage awards, which begin
to accrue after a judgment is entered, from 12 percent to the rate of
one-year Treasury Bills
Exempting retailers, wholesalers and other distributors from damage claims
stemming from manufacturing defects in products.