A couple of points on HB 917 before the House today. Call your representatives to vote NO on this bill. Small, but meritorious claims will have great difficulty receiving fair compensation (for example, it will be more costly to litigate the case, so many will be forced to accept a low ball offer); It will take a lot longer to receive a trial date; Many courthouses in the state cannot accommodate the increased number of jury trials; People will have to serve on jury duty more often, which will take them away from their jobs (some employers do not compensate their employees for jury duty, and $25/day is not enough to pay the bills); Small businesses will suffer from having their employees serve on juries more often; Judges with mixed dockets (criminal, family, civil) will have a hard time meeting the time constraints and delays, especially the criminal deadlines; There is no evidence that lowering the jury threshold will lower insurance premiums (Also, insurance companies refuse to guarantee a lowering of premiums upon passage) Other states with high automobile insurance rates have low jury thresholds; In other states with low or no jury threshold, typically the counties pay the bill for the juries (not the parties); Bench trials are less expensive and faster (ie: can submit depositions of experts instead of live testimony, medicals are often stipulated to prior to trial, and a bench trial can be completed in ½ day, whereas a jury trial would take 3 or more); The defendant insureds (not insurance companies) will no longer be safe from excess judgments because plaintiff attorneys will no longer have a reason to stipulate that damages do not exceed a certain amount. If you hate taxes, know that HB 917 is an unfunded tax-raising mandate on every parish. It is corporate welfare for insurance companies in the rawest sense at the expense of their constituents. Unless youve been in a jury trial and successfully navigated its procedural and evidentiary rules, you have no idea what a nightmare this can be for claimants who do not even want to get an attorney involved. So for those thinking my stance is about self-preservation, my business will increase. Because laymen will be either unable or unwilling to navigate a jury trial by his or herself, he or she will be more likely to hire an attorney. This hurts people, not attorneys. Its sad, because it is unnecessary, and will have no perceivable or real benefit to the people. This bill is backed by the same lobbyists and other business groups that have aligned themselves with BP against the citizens of Louisiana. Voting Yes to this bill is like walking off the plank to certain death before they even put the sword to your back. I dont want to be told I was right a year from now. By then, it will be too late. We need to kill this bill now!
Posted on: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 18:12:47 +0000
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