The statute of repose is expected to be reformed this year so that manufacturers are allowed affirmative defenses, such as a product or piece of equipment was more than 15 years old or that there was no latent defect and that the manufacturer should not be held liable.
“It is a fairness issue,” said Rich AuBuchon, executive director of the Missouri Civil Justice Reform Coalition. “Certainly we don't want to have products that are manufactured 40 to 50 years ago held to the same standards that we have today for those same products.”
Products and equipment that would be covered include automobiles and agriculture tools and instruments, such as a tractor.
“There are many safety issues that have developed, notices, warnings and design improvements built into new products that we have today and older products may not have had the benefit of those developments,” AuBuchon told the St. Louis Record. “It would shorten liability or at least have a set and defined liability as an affirmative defense of 15 years and that product frankly could be subject to litigation for 50 years or 60 years you name it.”
The proposed bill, if passed, would not apply to a product or equipment that contains asbestos.
“It's been filed and we anticipate it will be worked up in the House and the Senate as well,” AuBuchon said.
A repose differs from a statute of limitation in that repose is a bar to filing suit based upon the age of the product while a statute of limitation is based upon the date of the injury.
“We have two reposes in Missouri,” AuBuchon said. “We have one for buildings, which is 10 years, and we have one for medical devices and that’s 2 years.”
Republican Senator Dan Hegeman introduced Senate Bill 3, which modifies the statute of limitations for personal injury claims from five to two years.
“It has become a situation where evidence is lost and memories are fading,” Aubuchon said. “Five years is a tremendously long time for personal injury. Missouri has a two-year statute of limitations period on medical malpractice. We're not getting rid of claims. We're just saying they have to be brought sooner.”
The state currently has a two-year statute of limitations timeframe on medical malpractice claims.
“We’re making them very similar for personal injury claims and we're saying that they have to do both sooner because five years is an outlier,” AuBuchon said. “We are naturally becoming an outlier state. Two years has become the national norm in our area.”