Guest Blogger: Lesley Smith, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry
Editor's Note: Project Lawsuit Abuse regularly highlights lawsuit abuse news from across the country. Today, Lesley Smith, communications executive at the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry is contributing a guest post.
Pennsylvania consistently ranks at or near the bottom in various legal climate studies. The Commonwealth ranked dead last among the 50 states in a recent Boardroom Guide to Litigation analysis. The study’s authors specifically noted that Pennsylvania’s unbalanced liability climate strongly discourages job creation and growth. Another study, the Institute for Legal Reform’s Lawsuit Climate: Ranking the States, positioned Pennsylvania a lackluster 36th. And in the American Tort Reform Association’s 9th Annual Judicial Hellholes® report, which highlights jurisdictions where civil judges systematically apply laws and court procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner, Philadelphia earned the top spot – worst in the nation. The report found that Philadelphia’s judicial leadership “is engaged in a campaign to draw in massive personal injury lawsuits from around the country” and that “punitive damage awards over $1 million have reportedly tripled in Philadelphia courts.”
The evidence is clear that reform is needed. And the results of the 2010 general election offer restored hope for progress in Pennsylvania, with a new governor and new state House leadership aligned with Senate leaders in support of long-overdue commonsense improvements to the Commonwealth’s unbalanced legal system.
With the best environment for lawsuit abuse reform in almost a decade, a unified coalition of more than 50 business, health-care, local government and insurance groups is advocating a number of specific reforms, starting with ensuring that financial liability is proportional to degree of fault in civil liability cases (Fair Share Act). Under Pennsylvania’s existing “joint and several” liability doctrine, a defendant found only 1 percent at fault can be responsible for 100 percent of the damages. This system encourages trial lawyers to cast too wide of a net in searching for “deep pockets,” regardless of level of responsibility.
The coalition is hoping that the third time is the charm for the Fair Share Act. The measure was originally enacted in 2002, but rejected by the courts because the Fair Share Act language was added to an unrelated bill – but not because of the bill’s merits. A second Fair Share bill made it to former Gov. Ed Rendell’s desk in 2006, but Rendell vetoed the measure (after promising as a candidate to sign it).
The coalition also supports, among other reforms:
• Better protection from liability for innocent sellers that had nothing to do with a product’s manufacture
• A reasonable time frame in which most product liability cases can be brought, since many suits are filed years after a product was manufactured and worked without incident
• “Apology” legislation, which lets health-care providers speak openly with patients following an unforeseen event without fear of those statements being used in court, but not preventing a patient’s right to take legal action
• Preventing plaintiff’s attorneys from shopping for favorable court venues in civil liability cases (Venue shopping in medical liability cases in Pennsylvania ended in 2002 with Act 127. According to state Supreme Court data, there were 1,365 cases filed Philadelphia prior to the act. The year after the act, the number of cases dropped to 577.)
Evidence shows that commonsense legal reforms enacted in other states over the past 20 years have lowered consumer costs, created jobs, reduced insurance costs and increased business investment and innovation. Pennsylvania is not enjoying these same benefits. Coalition partners, families and individuals are looking to elected officials for that to change.
Lesley Smith is communications executive for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, the Commonwealth’s largest broad-based business association. PA Chamber membership comprises businesses of all sizes and across all industry sectors. The PA Chamber is The Statewide Voice of Business™.
