The Missouri General Assembly has had good success in changing its litigation environment over the last few years with a punitive damages bill, changes to the standard for employment discrimination claims and a new standard for expert witness testimony admission, according to a civil justice reform advocate.
“We have a very strong pro-business legislature and a Republican governor who believes in making sure that our business litigation environment is fair for all parties and not just one sided,” said Rich Aubuchon, executive director of the Missouri Civil Justice Reform Coalition. “We believe that these fairness factors figure into a better civil justice environment and that message resonates to virtually everyone in the legislature.”
The legislature returned to the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City on Jan. 5.
The following are the proposed changes to Missouri’s tort system that AuBuchon foresees could potentially be approved this year:
Senate Bill 669, introduced by Sen. Bill White (R-Joplin), would modify civil actions, including determinations of fault and immunity from products liability.
“It’s what is known as the empty chair defense and innovator liability and has to do with allotment of fault,” AuBuchon told the St. Louis Record. “It's really an offshoot of what's called joint and several liability.”
If approved, plaintiffs would be required to sue the manufacturer of a product and prove that the defendant designed, manufactured, sold, or leased the particular product that is alleged to have caused an injury and not a similar or equivalent product.
“It has a good opportunity if it can get out of committee,” AuBuchon said. “It was heard in committee (recently) and it went onto the fiscal oversight committee in the Senate. I anticipate that it will probably get voted out in the next few weeks.”
Introduced by Senator Eric Burlison (R-Greene), Senate Bill 879 would establish a process for plaintiffs in a civil action seeking damages for asbestos exposure to disclose what claims had been filed with a trust.
“We want to ensure that we don't have a bunch of people being able to not only get their proceeds from the trust but then also get it from other defendants for the same injury,” AuBuchon said. “For those who are double dipping and taking more than their share, they are actually taking away from other people who are injured in the future. That's really the focus here.”
Sister bill, HB 1717, was introduced by Rep. Alex Riley (R-Springfield).
“SB 879 has not been yet referred to committee and it's a little further down on the list,” AuBuchon said. “I anticipate it will be referred to committee in the next couple of weeks and set for a hearing within the month.”
Senate Bill 631, introduced by Sen. Dan Hegeman (R-Cosby), would limit statute of limitations statewide to two from five years.
“Most people want to resolve disputes, move on and get on with their lives,” AuBuchon added. “Quite truly, you start losing information after five years. It’s hard even to remember what we did last week. We had the hearing in the Senate and it was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It will be referred to the Senate calendar. It's got good legs.”