Senators forge ahead on lawsuit reform bill
By David Pasztor
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Lawsuit reform, one of the most contentious and far-reaching endeavors during this year's legislative session, is finally headed to the state Senate floor.
After more than a month of public hearings and technical fiddling, the Senate State Affairs Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved its version of House Bill 4, a massive bill that rewrites portions of the state's civil justice laws in an effort to cut down on nuisance lawsuits and runaway jury verdicts.
The committee also unanimously approved a proposed constitutional amendment that supporters say is crucial to the portion of the bill aimed at lowering medical malpractice insurance premiums.
"I feel like I just gave birth to an elephant," joked committee Chairman Bill Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant, who presided over laborious revisions to the hastily passed House version of the bill.
As modified by Ratliff and the committee, one of the bill's major components — caps on damage awards for such things as pain and suffering in malpractice lawsuits — has been revised.
Reform advocates, medical groups and doctors have consistently called for a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damage awards in all malpractice cases, a provision contained in the House version.
But under the Senate version, injured patients would be able to receive up to $750,000 in noneconomic damages if there are multiple defendants in a case, such as numerous doctors, nurses or hospitals.
The bill still caps the liability of any individual doctor or nurse at $250,000 and caps the liability of a single institution such as a hospital or nursing home at $500,000.
Full text:
http://www.statesman.com/legislature.../0514tort.html
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