Governor’s Column - April 25, 2008
by Governor Matt Blunt
2005 Lawsuit Reform Achieving Big Dividends
Four years ago, our state faced many challenges. Missouri's budget was a disaster. Education funding had been cut and withheld, and Missouri had lost 34,000 jobs. But one of the biggest challenges we faced was personal injury lawyers chasing doctors out of our state.
As a candidate for governor, I gave my word to the people of Missouri that we would confront the personal injury attorneys who were driving up medical costs and scaring doctors away. Together with leaders in the General Assembly, and with the strong support of health care professionals throughout the state, we took quick action. In 2005, my first year in office, we enacted significant lawsuit reform leveling the playing field in Missouri courtrooms so that doctors and small business owners can go about creating jobs and opportunity without the paralyzing worry about the effects of a frivolous lawsuit or runaway personal injury award.
Before litigation reform, Missouri doctors and businesses often found themselves victim to venue-shopping, a tactic personal injury lawyers used to get cases heard in high-dollar jurisdictions like St. Louis or Kansas City, regardless of whether there was any logical reason for the case to be tried there. We changed that. Today, personal injury lawyers can no longer game the system. Tort cases are heard in the county where the alleged injury occurred - and only in the county where the alleged injury occurred.
The legislation also changed unfair practices that meant a defendant found to be even just one percent at fault for an accident could be forced to pay the entire judgment. There is only one group of Missourians for whom this seemed just - personal injury lawyers. Most people do not believe anyone should be forced to pay for the negligence of others. So, we changed the law so that defendants may only be forced to pay all the damages if a jury finds that they are more than 50 percent at fault.
We also put an end to vindictive awards and placed reasonable caps on punitive damages. The cap ensures there will never be a multi-million dollar award in our state for a hot coffee spill.
Other common sense measures clarified and strengthened laws relating to medical providers and related cases. Just as our changes have worked to help bring jobs back to our state, so too they have helped keep doctors in our state.
Legal reform is working. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's rating indicates Missouri is now moving in the right direction on best legal climates in the country, as the state moved from the 41st position in 2004 to the 34th position in 2007. Businesses examine these ratings when they are considering relocations and expansions.
The most recent numbers on doctor's insurance also tell a great story. Today, personal injury attorneys think twice before filing a frivolous lawsuit. From 2005 to 2006, total claims against Missouri doctors dropped 61 percent, and Missourians are benefiting from even better numbers in some specialties. General surgeons, emergency room doctors, and OB-GYNs have all seen claims drop by greater than 70 percent since our reforms took effect.
The bottom-line is Missouri doctors, and the hospitals in which they work, now have more resources available to serve Missourians. Rather than make cautious investments in excessive amounts of insurance and extortionate payouts to personal injury lawyers, they have been freed to invest in health care - hiring new doctors, buying new equipment.
Litigation reform has been a great success for the people of Missouri. But we must not rest on past victories. Personal injury lawyers will not give up easily. In fact, they will never give up. They will always push to make it easier for them to sue, and more difficult for doctors to serve their patients.
Doctors are too important for maintaining a healthy state. For the future of our state, it is vital that we continue to elect legislative and executive leaders who understand that a Missouri courtroom should not be a place where personal injury lawyers run good doctors and businesses away, but instead a place with a level playing field, a place where Missourians can expect a fair process for all.