House committee endorses personal-injury lawsuit limits

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Republicans pushed one part of their plan for lowering doctors' malpractice premiums through a House committee Wednesday but delayed action on a companion bill addressing insurance companies' practices.

The bill endorsed by the House Judiciary Committee revises Missouri's laws on personal-injury lawsuits, which some observers blame for the steep increases in medical malpractice insurance premiums in recent years.

Among other things, the bill narrows an injured party's choice of where a lawsuit may be filed. It also revises and reinforces Missouri's ceiling on non-economic damages, typically awarded in personal injury cases for pain and suffering.

The measure represents half of a two-pronged effort by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Byrd, R-Kirkwood, to attack what is generally acknowledged to be a medical malpractice crisis that has sent some Missouri doctors into retirement or out of the state.

Byrd's other bill, expected to receive a committee vote next week, gives the state more control over insurance companies' rate-setting practices.

Gov. Bob Holden last year vetoed a tort reform bill because it dealt only with personal-injury lawsuits and did not address insurers' practices.

Byrd's measure on lawsuits cleared the House Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote and goes next to the full House.

Venue shopping

The legislation would crack down on so-called venue shopping, in which plaintiffs seek to file their lawsuits in communities -- typically St. Louis and Kansas City -- where juries are perceived to be especially generous.

Under the bill, a lawsuit could be filed only in the county where the alleged injury occurred. For injuries that happened outside the state, the lawsuit could be filed in the Missouri county where the individual defendant resides or -- in the case of a corporate defendant -- where it has a registered agent.

Republicans said the goal is cut down on lawsuits filed in St. Louis or Kansas City based only on the slimmest of connections between an injury and one of those cities.

In addition, the bill caps noneconomic damages in injury lawsuits at $400,000, with no adjustments for inflation. Missouri's existing cap was adopted in 1986 at $350,000, but has been adjusted through the years to the current $565,000.

Committee members opened discussion of Byrd's insurance bill.

That measure would require insurance companies to give policyholders 60 days' notice before raising their premiums or canceling their coverage. The bill would also prohibit insurers from changing their rates more than 20 percent from the previous year's market median.

Byrd defended the bill against Democrats' concerns that it is too soft on insurance companies.

"They're not thrilled because for the very first time we will be establishing some parameters on how high or low they can go on their rates," Byrd said. "This is not an insurance-company-friendly bill."

House Democrats have offered legislation they describe as more narrowly tailored to the state's medical malpractice crisis. Their approach would leave decisions on proper venue to judges, and would provide tax credits to doctors whose premiums rise at least 15 percent.

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Medical malpractice bills are HB1304, HB1305.

On the Net:

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