Legislative Fight Looms on Limiting Right to Sue
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A fight over placing restrictions on the right to sue — with supporters saying that would reduce frivolous lawsuits, and opponents contending it would shield businesses from paying for legitimate damages — is shaping up in the State Legislature. The drive for making the first changes in seven years in laws regulating civil torts, cases in which an individual sues because of alleged harm received, reflects a debate going on nationwide. To Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate, the six bills introduced in the Senate Commerce Committee to restrict the right to sue “are among the most Draconian I’ve seen in any state legislature in the country.” But Philip Kirschner, vice president for legal affairs of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said businesses needed protection against being sued when they had done nothing wrong. “It’s the cost of winning, not losing, that is the problem,” Mr. Kirschner said. Cap on Punitive Damages The bills, which are still in the committee, would cap punitive damage awards, shield doctors and some sellers of products from liability for defects in the products they use and sell. They would also limit the liability of multiple defendants to their actual share of any fault or negligence. The key bill in the package would eliminate “joint and several” liability, which usually insures that a successful plaintiff receives a full damage award, even if it is paid by only one of several defendants. Now, any defendant who is found more than 20 percent responsible for harm suffered by a plaintiff can be forced to pay the entire award if other defendants are unable to pay. Limiting each defendant’s liability to the percentage of harm the defendant actually caused would protect companies and individuals with large assets from paying 100 percent of a judgment when their culpability was less. The doctrine of joint and several liability has frequently been used in pollution cases. The arguments on each side are familiar. Supporters of change cite an explosion in litigation that is clogging courts, and say an increase in the size of jury awards is driving up the costs of medical and auto insurance for everyone. Exaggerating the Problems? The other view is that businesses are exaggerating those problems in an attempt to escape responsibility for poorly designed or dangerous products. Mr. Nader said that most of the dangers of products, from asbestos to poorly designed gas tanks, have been exposed by lawsuits and not by regulators. He also presented figures he said showed that between 1986 and 1989, of the 1.6 million civil cases filed nationally, only about 2 percent were tort cases. Senator Gerald Cardinale, Republican of Cresskill and chairman of the Commerce Committee, introduced the six bills along with Senator Joseph M. Kyrillos, Republican of Middletown. Mr. Cardinale said he was buoyed by a telephone survey of 801 residents last month by the Star-Ledger/Eagleton Poll, which found that 71 percent of those questioned supported limits on the money a plaintiff could receive. In addition, 58 percent believed that limits on lawsuits would reduce premiums for auto and health insurance, the poll found. By comparison, 35 percent opposed any limits on the right to sue for damages. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent. The bills emerged after four public hearings and are generally supported by businesses, the insurance industry and the medical profession, and opposed by labor, environmental organizations, lawyers, victims rights groups and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Further hearings are possible, and the committee has not yet scheduled a vote on the bills. Business leaders argue that the bills would impose overdue limits on frivolous lawsuits. Mr. Kirschner said a survey of companies that belong to his business association found that 51 percent had been the target of what they described as frivolous lawsuits over the last three years. “The interesting thing is that 86 percent of the suits were against companies with 99 or fewer employees, not the titans of industry that lawyers say are fueling this attempt at reform,” he said. More : query.nytimes.com |