- Introduced -

SB 280 - This act enacts several tort reform measures.

SEAT BELT VIOLATIONS - Under this act, the failure to wear a seat belt shall be considered as evidence of comparative negligence in a lawsuit. The failure to wear a seatbelt can also be admitted to mitigate damages without introducing expert evidence proving that the failure to wear the belt contributed to the injuries.

COLLATERAL SOURCE RULE - This act modifies the collateral source rule by adding the plaintiff's employer, workers' compensation insurer, and other insurance companies to the list of persons or entities in which the defendant can introduce evidence of payment. If the defendant introduces collateral source evidence, the defendant will not waive his or her right to a credit for any payments the defendant may have made to the plaintiff. Under current law, any introduction of collateral source evidence constitutes a waiver of any right to a credit against a judgment.

VENUE SHOPPING - This act requires courts to dismiss or transfer venue of any cause of action which has accrued outside of the county in which the court is located if there is another forum with jurisdiction of the parties and in which venue is proper and which the trial can be conveniently held taking into account the following factors:

1. The location where the cause of action accrued;

2. The location of witnesses other than retained experts, wherever located, and health care providers whose principal office is more than 100 miles from the residence of the plaintiff;

3. The residence of the parties.

A party may file a motion to transfer venue to a more convenient forum within 90 days after the last day allowed for the filing of a party's answer. A party who files an action in a county other than a county where one or more defendants reside or where the cause of action accrued shall bear the burden that the forum where the cause of action is pending is more convenient than a forum in which one or more defendants reside or where the cause of actions accrued. If the court finds a more convenient forum, the court shall grant the motion and transfer the case to the more convenient forum of dismiss the action so it can be filed in another state.

If the action is dismissed, and the cause of action is filed in another state with proper jurisdiction within six months of the order of dismissal, the defendants shall accept service of process in the other state. If the plaintiff files the action in another state within six months of the dismissal order, and the statute of limitations has ran when the action is filed in the other state, the defendants shall waive the statute of limitations as a defense for that time period. If a defendant fails to abide by these conditions, the plaintiff's cause of actions shall be reinstated in the court which dismissed the action. Alternatively, if the court in the other forum refuses to accept jurisdiction, the plaintiff may, within 30 days of the final order refusing jurisdiction, reinstate the action in the court which dismissed the cause of action.

This section requires the court clerk transferring a case to a more convenient forum to certify and transfer all original papers and orders to the new forum.

PUNITIVE DAMAGES - This act limits punitive damages in all actions tried before a jury to three times the liability of the defendant for compensatory damages.

SUPERSEDAS BONDS - This act establishes a $25 million limit on supersdedas bonds. This limit shall not apply if the appellee proves that the appellant is purposely dissipating assets outside the ordinary course of business to avoid payment of the judgment. If that is proven, the court may require a bond equal to the full amount of the judgment.

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS - This act modifies the law regarding when a minor can bring a cause of action for medical malpractice. Under current law, a person less than 18 years of age has until the age of 20 to bring a cause of action. This act states that a minor less than six years of age has until his or her eighth birthday to bring the cause of action.

JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY - This act repeals the current doctrine of joint and several liability and limits liability to the percentage of fault attributed to each defendant by the trier fo fact.

NONECONOMIC DAMAGES - This act limits noneconomic damages in tort actions to $250,000.

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE NONECONOMIC DAMAGES CAP - This act lowers the cap on noneconomic damages from $350,000 to $250,000 and removes the provision of the law which subjects the cap to periodic inflation increases. This act also removes the words "per occurrence" to ensure that there is a single cap, and not multiple caps per incidents of medical malpractice as held by the court in Scott v. SSM Healthcare.

DAMAGE CAPS FOR TRAUMA CARE - This act would impose a $50,000 damage cap on claims arising out of the provision of trauma or emergency room care.

CAP ON CONTINGENCY FEES - This act would limit attorney's contingency fees in medical malpractice actions to 33% of the first $50,000 recovered; 25% of the next $50,000, 15% of the next $500,000; and 10% of any amount exceeding $600,000. In no case shall an attorney collect fees, charges, or any other costs which in the aggregate total more than 33% of the total charges.

AFFIDAVIT OF MERIT - This act would require (current law is discretionary) a court to dismiss any medical malpractice claim for which the plaintiff fails to file an affidavit stating that he or she has obtained the written opinion of a health care provider which states that the defendant failed to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful health care provider would have under similar circumstances and that such failure caused the plaintiff's damages. The provision also requires the expert to be licensed and actively practicing in the same specialty as the defendant.

BENEVOLENT GESTURES - This act would make statement, writings, or benevolent gestures expressing sympathy or a general sense of benevolence relating to the pain, suffering, or death of a person involved in an accident inadmissible as evidence in a civil action. Statements of fault, however, shall not be inadmissible.

LOSER PAYS - This act would require the losing party in a medical malpractice action to pay the prevailing party's attorney fees and costs.

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE PUNITIVE DAMAGES - This act limits punitive damages in medical malpractice actions to cases where the defendant's actions were due to evil motive or reckless indifference. Punitive damages are capped at two times the total actual damages.

MANDATORY INSURANCE COVERAGE - This act provides that health carriers and hospitals cannot require physicians to carry professional liability insurance as a condition of contracting or granting hospital staff privileges. This act also removes the provision of the law which requires hospitals located within counties having more than 75,000 inhabitants to carry medical malpractice insurance in the minimum amount of $500,000.

STEPHEN WITTE