Last-minute effort allows suit reform bid to advance
Last-minute effort allows suit reform bid to advance in state House

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By Michael McNutt
Published: April 10, 2008

A bill that would affect how lawsuits are treated in court cases ranging from personal injury to medical malpractice passed a House committee Wednesday evening after it was slipped into another measure.

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The lawsuit reform bill is generally the same as the measure vetoed last year by Gov. Brad Henry, Rep. Daniel Sullivan, R-Tulsa, told members of the House Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.

The 133-page measure was placed into Senate Bill 156, a four-page bill that would have created the Small Hospitals Self-Help Act.

The last-minute tactic came just before today's deadline for House committees to hear Senate bills.

"This is about politics and politics only,” said Rep. Richard Morrisette, D-Oklahoma City. "The governor vetoed this bill last year and I suspect he'll do the same thing. This is an election year. This is a set-up bill.”

Sullivan said the bill would "make a level and clear playing field available for everyone who does business in the state of Oklahoma.”

Similar measure was vetoed before
Henry vetoed last year's lawsuit reform measure in late April. Discussions during the waning days of last year's legislative session produced no compromise.

"We will need to review the latest bill to see what is in it,” the governor's spokesman, Paul Sund, said Wednesday night. "It will be problematic if it is essentially the same bill with the same objectionable language in it.”

Among other things, the bill would cap noneconomic damages, which generally are for pain and suffering, at $300,000. It would limit a jury to award punitive damages only if it found intentional or gross negligence by clear and convincing evidence.

Henry in vetoing last year's lawsuit reform measure said he concluded several provisions of the bill were unconstitutional, and it unduly restricted Oklahomans' ability to seek justice. He also thought it did not do enough to curb frivolous lawsuits.

Republican legislative leaders last year criticized the Democratic governor's action.

Sen. James Williamson, R-Tulsa, two weeks ago challenged Henry to make a counter-offer to the lawsuit reform measure.

Rep. Scott Inman, D-Oklahoma City, a member of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, opposed this year's bill.

"This is the same thing we dealt with last year,” said Inman,. "We're a state that's tough on crime but soft on negligence.”


 

Related Topics: U.S. State Government, U.S. Government, U.S. Congressional News

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The myth that "tort reform" is needed is the biggest fleecing of the American, and Oklahoma, public ever. Do people not realize that what the politicians in favor of this type of legislation are trying to do is limit your right to recover if you are catastrophically injured or a family member is killed? And the reason they're doing it? The doctors and big business want that legislation. Why? So that if they injur or kill someone, it doesn't cost them very much money. The politicians want two things out of this: 1) money from corporations and doctors; and 2) a "business friendly" state so that more businesses and doctors come here which leads to more money from corporations and doctors. Wake up, Oklahoma! Be thankful you've got a Governor who won't allow your interests to be crushed for the sake of politics.
LW, Oklahoma City - Apr 11, 2008 at 9:02 am
Report as inappropriate or
Ignore LW
Tom from Edmond, an attorney does not get half of the award. By statute, it can only get 1/3rd. Often times, Attorneys spend a lot of their own money in order to hire expert witnesses,gather evidence, etc. Moreover, many trials are complicated and take an enormous amount of time. If attorney fees are reduced, you'll like see that attorneys not take complicated cases because they couldn't afford it.
michael, oklahoma city - Apr 10, 2008 at 6:35 pm
This is about fund raising. Oklahoma per the AMA is the 4th most attractive state for doctors. This is about republicans brining this issue up, which most Oklahomans find as a non-issue, in order to raise funds from the rich corp and drs. Further, this bill would make it impossible to go to court, make insurance companies money and not save a dime to all of us average Oklahomans. Its hypocrisy at its finest and notice how Republicans got the bill through by attaching 133 pages to a 4 page bill. They do not want it debated as they have no leg to stand on this draconian limitation of OKlahomans rights.
Jeremy, Moore - Apr 10, 2008 at 12:33 pm
that or just make the penalties for filing a frivolous lawsuit so high as to keep people and ambulance chasers from wanting to.
Kevin, Del City - Apr 10, 2008 at 4:44 am
How about a provision limiting what a court can award in attorney fees. On a $300,000 judgment an attorney will likely get half of it.
citizen, Edmond - Apr 10, 2008 at 1:40 am

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