Senate Democrats Gut Lawsuit Reform Bill

The third time won’t be a charm for lawsuit reform if Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Laster and Senate Democrat leaders get their way.

After two straight years of having real lawsuit reform blocked by Gov. Brad Henry and legislative Democrats in favor of watered-down tort bills, proponents of reform were hoping to finally get meaningful lawsuit reform passed in 2005.

But House Bill 2047, by House Speaker Todd Hiett and Senate GOP Leader Glenn Coffee was gutted by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, replacing it with a watered-down version that died in the Senate three weeks ago because of bipartisan opposition.

“This action by the Judiciary Committee shows that Senate Democrats aren’t serious about real lawsuit reform. I have serious doubts whether Senate Democrats will allow meaningful lawsuit reform to pass in 2005, which means we’ll have to be right back here next year talking about this issue again,” Coffee stated.

Coffee said he hopes the Legislature can still pass a meaningful lawsuit reform bill this year that could keep Oklahoma competitive with states like Texas, Missouri, and Mississippi that have all passed reforms in recent years.

“It’s becoming obvious that Gov. Henry and Senate Democrats want to make this a campaign issue for 2006. They are more interested in protecting the trial lawyers who fund their campaigns than they are about making Oklahoma more attractive for new jobs and new investments by businesses,” Coffee stated.

“House Bill 2047, as passed by the House, would have put Oklahoma on the map as being a national leader for lawsuit reform. Now, we’re in danger of being a national laughing stock for the third straight year,” he said.

Before being gutted by Senate Democrats, House Bill 2047 included much-needed reforms such as a limit on attorneys fees, a hard cap of $300,000 on non-economic damages (e.g., pain and suffering), protections for educators from frivolous lawsuits, and the elimination of “joint and several” liability making people liable for damages only to the extent at which they are at fault.