DONE AND DONE: BLUNT SIGNS COMP, TORT REFORMS

Republican Gov. Matt Blunt signed two major items off his legislative to-do list when he signed industry-backed workers’ compensation and tort reforms into law recently. Both sets of reforms were stymied under previous Gov. Bob Holden, a Democrat.

The tort reform legislation just signed into law, House Bill 393, does the following: –Limits punitive damages to $250,000 or three times the net amount of the judgment awarded the plaintiff against the defendant, whichever is greater;

–Lowers the cap on non-economic damages that can be recovered against health care providers to $350,000 (not adjusted for inflation), irrespective of the number of defendants;
–Strengthens venue rules for in-state and out-of-state causes of action for plaintiffs and defendants, both corporate and individual;
–Eliminates joint and several liability, and specifies that the liability of each defendant who is found to be 50 percent or less at fault is subject only to that percentage of the judgment;
–Specifies that interest calculations for pre- and post-judgment claims be based on the federal funds rate plus a specific percentage, depending on the case.

Blunt went to Springfield, Joplin, Cape Girardeau and Kansas City to perform ceremonial signings of the bill, which has been the Republican Party’s top priority for three years. Highlights of the workers’ compensation reform bills (Senate Bills 1 and 130) include:

–Changing the standard from “substantial factor” to “prevailing factor” in the definition of compensable injury;
–Giving preference to objective medical findings over subjective complaints of pain;–The statute will now be “impartially construed” rather than “liberally construed”;–Travel to and from work in a company owned or leased car is no longer covered by workers compensation;
–Reducing death benefits from 25 percent to 50 percent when the injured employee fails to wear safety equipment provided by employer.