As predicted, lawsuit reform is turning out to be the focus of the Oklahoma Legislature during the current session.
In the Oklahoma Senate a comprehensive lawsuit reform bill, sponsored by a Democratic passed out of the Senate Judiciary committee but was criticized by Republican leadership as falling short of needed reforms.
Meanwhile in the House, a bill aimed at eliminating lawsuits against private prisons by former inmates passed out of the Corrections and Criminal Justice Committee.
Senate Bill 1874, or the Lawsuit Responsibility Act, authored by Sen. Charles Laster, a Shawnee Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, passed out of committee by a vote of 8-0.
Senate Democrats say the measure will reduce the cost of litigation and further reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits in Oklahoma.
However, in a news release, Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee of Oklahoma City, stated, “The minor reforms contained in Sen. Laster’s bill fall far short of the comprehensive lawsuit reform that Oklahoma needs to protect doctors and small businesses from lawsuit abuse. This bill is the latest effort by Senate Democrats to protect their trial lawyer allies from meaningful, comprehensive lawsuit reform.”
Coffee and Speaker of the House Todd Hiett, R-Kellyville, are authors of their own comprehensive lawsuit reform bill.
Laster said Senate Bill 1784 would address the issue of frivolous lawsuits “on the front end of a case by giving judges more authority to dismiss cases deemed to be frivolous.”
“I recently conducted a statewide survey of judges who said that only a small percentage of cases filed in their courts are frivolous, but we should and can do more to further reduce those numbers,” Laster said.
SB 1874 also urges the Oklahoma Supreme Court to devise rules to regulate advertising by attorneys.
The Lawsuit Responsibility Act also requires lawsuits to move quickly through the system in six months and doesn’t allow attorneys to drag a case out for years with little or no action. SB 1874 also calls for punishment of abuses of the discovery process by requiring earlier and stronger involvement by judges in pre-trial discovery.
It would also prohibit liability for sellers of food products for human consumption unless the product is defective.
The measure also offers additional protections to doctors by eliminating any liability for physicians for merely prescribing FDA approved pharmaceutical products. Additionally, it eliminates excess liability for doctors whose practice consists of 50 percent Medicaid and Medicare and who carry $2 million in malpractice insurance.
Laster said the reforms passed by the Legislature in 2003 and 2004 are working.
“The number of lawsuits in our state is down. One Oklahoma City hospital recently told us that the number of suits filed against it has dropped by 70 percent and our doctors pay among the lowest medical malpractice premiums in the country,” Laster said.
The Senator noted that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ranks Oklahoma’s civil justice system among 15 “moderate” states.
In the House, State Rep. Daniel Sullivan, a Republican from Tulsa, sponsored House Bill 2966, which would prevent released convicts from filing lawsuits against private prisons.
HB 2966, by Sullivan, bars inmates upon release from bringing any legal action against private prisons for a claim arising during custody if no complaint was filed and no administrative remedy sought prior to release.
“Both the federal and state officials passed laws to prevent inmates from filing frivolous lawsuits against government-owned prisons at both the state and federal level,” Sullivan said. “My bill takes this a step further and creates that same protection for private prisons. Some prisoners are in a state-owned facility one month and a private facility the next month. This bill uses the same procedure for all facilities. ”
Before officials eliminated frivolous lawsuits at state prisons, 350 inmate lawsuits were filed in 2001. After litigation protections were provided, the number dropped to 100 inmate lawsuits in 2004.
Sullivan said his goal is to eliminate all frivolous inmate lawsuits in Oklahoma.
Source: Oklahoma Legislature
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