To alleviate the tremendous economic pressure placed on businesses, medical providers, local governments and others, we continue to support the following tort reform measures:
- Perform calculations that reduce future damages to present value.
- Reform and reduce attorney contingency fee arrangements.
- A plaintiff should be responsible for paying the defendant’s legal fees if the case is settled in the defendant's favor. The court should be responsible for collecting fees from the plaintiff.
- Reform the collateral source rule to mandate revealing other sources of compensation for damages available to the plaintiff.
- Mandate structured settlements for large monetary judgments.
- Reform prejudgment interest rules by reducing the interest rate, which would start accruing the day the judgment is awarded.
- Arbitration boards should be used to settle cases.
- A person who uses a product in a way other than was intended should not be allowed to bring suit.
- Court ordered mediation shall not be scheduled before the defendant in civil litigation has the opportunity to file a motion for summary disposition. Court ordered mediation should take place only if both parties agree to mediate. Any agreement reached in this mediation shall have a waiting or cooling off period of 48 to 72 hours to afford the defendant the opportunity to change his mind after weighing the consequences of this agreement or contract.
- Employers who are providing proper training and Personal Protective Equipment, and are working in good faith to protect employee health, should have liability protection.
- Exemption from personal property liability for any professional service provider who enter farm properties to perform duties at their own risk and in good faith.