Louisiana approves tort reform bill -- UPDATED

About two weeks ago, the Louisiana legislature passed a tort reform bill that the Governor said he would sign, (after he had vetoed an earlier version).

The bill, which appears to be explicitly designed to favor the auto insurance industry adopts a limitation of the collateral source rule, removes the ban on mentioning whether a plaintiff was wearing a seat belt, limits when an insurance company's name can be mentioned in court, and reduces the threshold for jury trials from $50,000 to $10,000.

The first two measures are common in tort reform bills, but the measure related to the jury is strange because usually juries are thought of being more generous that judges when calculating damages.  It is not clear, why a tort reform bill designed to favor defendants tries to expand the number of cases that will be tried by juries.

Like most, if not all, tort reform bills, this one fails to address the real issue.  The bill is supposed to help lower car insurance rates, but  instead of drafting a bill that regulates those rates, the legislature drafted a bill to help insurance companies make more money while doing nothing to lower the bills.  I suppose it remains to be seen what will happen but more than likely, the consumers will get screwed twice: the insurance rates will remain the same (or continue to rise), and the injured victims will get lower compensation....  unless they miscalculated the gamble on whether juries will be less generous.

The TortsProf blog has more on the story here.

UPDATE 8/2/20: The Governor signed the bill....  Story here.

Good news for victims in Missouri: Governor vetoes two tort reform bills

Back in April I commented on a pending bill in Missouri to abolish the collateral source rule.  In that post, I explained what this means and why, if adopted, the new law would be "bad news" for torts victims. 

Today I am happy to report that Missouri's Governor has vetoed the bill.   Go here for more information.  Reportedly, the Governor concluded that the bill would be unfair to those who purchase insurance, which is exactly right.  Tort reformers always argue that the collateral source rule is unfair because it allows plaintiffs to recover more that what they should in compensation. But this argument is based on a simplistic approach that does not take into account the fact that plaintiffs have paid for insurance.  Thus the Governor is right that the new bill would essentially penalize those who have been paying for insurance all along and unduly benefit the wrongdoers. 

Missouri getting ready to abolish collateral source rule

Bad news for victims in Missouri.  TortsProf blog is reporting that the Missouri House passed a bill abolishing the collateral source rule.  A version of the bill has already passed the Missouri Senate.  The Missouri Times has details.

The collateral source rule is an old doctrine, which at one point applied pretty much everywhere, that prevented courts from taking into account any amount of money the plaintiff receives from a source other than a defendant when determining the amount of compensation in a lawsuit.  Over time, with the backing of tort reformers, some jurisdictions have abolished the doctrine based on the phony argument that it allows the plaintiff to get unjustly enriched.  The argument is that because of the doctrine the plaintiff can get paid by the plaintiff's insurance and then on top of that gets paid again by the defendant.

The argument is phony because the payment by the insurance company comes after the plaintiff has been paying the insurance premiums for however long the plaintiff had the insurance.  So eliminating the doctrine actually penalizes the plaintiff for having gotten insurance to begin with.  

Louisiana Supreme Court finds medical provider write off does not fall within the collateral source rule, which means it can be taken into account when determining value of compensation

In a recent decision, the Louisiana Supreme Court has held that a writeoff from a medical provider, negotiated by the plaintiff‟s attorney, may not be considered a collateral source from which the tortfeasor receives no set-off. Applying Louisiana law and the principles set forth in our Civil Code, the court found that such a write-off does not fall within the scope of the collateral source rule. The TortsProf blog has more information.  You can read the opinion here.