Bill limiting medical malpractice lawsuits passes House

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Legislation intended to stem the rising cost of of medical malpractice insurance through new limits on personal-injury lawsuits won House approval Thursday and went to the Senate.

The bill, which supporters call "tort reform," would tighten several parts of state law relating to medical malpractice lawsuits and limit where all personal-injury lawsuits could be filed.

Sponsoring Rep. Richard Byrd said the bill, which passed on a 92-56 vote, would help all Missourians by keeping doctors in business. Some doctors and clinics have closed in the past year, blaming malpractice premiums that are too expensive.

A companion bill that would restrict increases in malpractice premiums received first-round House approval Wednesday and awaits a final House vote.

Gov. Bob Holden, a Democrat, vetoed tort legislation last year, saying it would help too many special interests and did not focus enough on doctors.

Byrd, R-Kirkwood, said while this year's bill was tailored primarily to address doctors' problems, some laws must be changed across the board to rein in out-of-control plaintiff's lawyers.

Rep. John Burnett, D-Kansas City, said the bill was amended so much that it is no longer was directed to medical malpractice.

"It was amended to address the concerns of the insurance companies," Burnett said. "It now addresses the concerns of the powerful at the expense of the powerless."

Under the bill, jury awards for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases would be permanently capped at $350,000. Current law, adopted in 1986, capped such noneconomic damages at $350,000 but also provided for inflation, so that the limit has risen to $565,000.

Some of the measure's most contentious provisions address all personal-injury lawsuits.

The bill would require all personal-injury lawsuits to be filed in the county where the incident occurred, an attempt to cut down on so-called "venue shopping," where a plaintiff tries to find a justification -- no matter how thin -- for filing suit in a county where juries are known to be generous.

Another contested provision in the bill addresses what is called "joint and several liability." Under current law, in cases where more than one defendant is found liable, a defendant that is the slightest bit liable can be forced to pay the full judgment. The bill would say only defendants that are liable for 51 percent of the damages are required to pay. The bill Holden vetoed last year would have set that figure at 20 percent.

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Lawsuit limit bill is HB1304.

On the Net:

Missouri Legislature: http://www.moga.state.mo.us