SB 941 - This act creates a cause of action for damages for personal injury or death arising out of the repair or construction of a public highway or road against private contractors, or employees thereof, of a public entity acting within the course and scope of a government contract and replaces any such common law cause of action. The elements of the cause of action are as follows: (1) The public highway or road was in a negligent, defective, or dangerous condition at the time of the injury or death; (2) The injury or death directly resulted from such condition; (3) The negligent, defective, or dangerous condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk of harm of the kind of the incurred injury; and (4) A negligent or wrongful act or omission of the private contractor, or employee thereof, within the course and scope of a government contract for the repair or construction of the public highway or road created the negligent, defective, or dangerous condition. In any action brought pursuant to this act, the public contractor, or employee thereof, shall be entitled to an affirmative defense and a complete bar to recovery if the private contractor, or employee thereof, can prove by a preponderance of the evidence that: (1) The alleged negligent, defective, or dangerous repair or construction reasonably complied with highway or road standards and regulations of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Highways Administration, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways, and the Missouri Department of Transportation at the time the public highway or road was repaired or constructed; and (2) The repair or construction by the private contractor was within the course and scope of a government contract. Furthermore, in any action under this act, the liability of the private contractor, or employee thereof, shall not exceed $2 million for all claims arising out of a single occurrence and shall not exceed $300,000 for any one person in a single accident or occurrence. If the amount awarded to multiple claimants exceeds $2 million, any party may apply to any circuit court to apportion to each claimant the proper share of $2 million, but shall not exceed $300,000. Additionally, no award of damages shall include punitive or exemplary damages. The act provides that the Director of the Department of Commerce and Insurance shall adjust the limits on damages annually. This act is substantially similar to SB 700 (2023) and is similar to a provision of SB 117 (2023), HB 101 (2023), SB 832 (2022), and HB 2598 (2022). KATIE O'BRIEN