Creve Coeur Democrat: Senate bills designed to favor corporations, special interests over Missourians in lawsuits

(From Sen. Jill Schlupp, D-Creve Coeur)

Often times the civil court system only becomes relevant to us when a wrong has occurred in our own life. It's common to overlook the magnitude of the impact changes to our civil court system, known as tort law, can have. The way the courts are structured now serves the important purpose of allowing wronged individuals to be made "whole" again.

Bit by bit, the civil court system is being undermined by legislation put forward by my majority-party colleagues to favor the wrong-doer over the injured party. Last year, there was a shift in balance that prevents individuals from joining together against big corporations in class action suits.

This year, on the table and moving through the process is a bill limiting the awarding of punitive damages which will only make it easier for big companies to avoid risk when they are acting in ways that hurt real Missourians.







Senate Bill 591, if passed, will make it harder for injured Missourians to receive punitive damages when they win a lawsuit. When the bill was heard in committee, it totaled nine pages, focusing on one topic. Shortly thereafter, when the senator brought the bill to the floor of the Senate, he substituted the bill expanding its scope, with a new version containing nearly 50 pages of bill text. Described by one lawmaker as the “Son of Franken-Tort,” This legislation protects corporations where decisions were made that hurt consumers.

The bill requires the injured party to prove a higher legal standard for punitive damages. The bill makes it harder for consumers to obtain compensation in cases of unlawful merchandising and encourages cases to go to arbitration, which commonly favor the defendant (the wrong-doer.)

Unfortunately, also in the realm of tort, was this week's debate on Senate Bill 575, which requires victims of asbestos exposure to file their claims against an asbestos trust, rather than taking their case directly to the entities that caused the exposure. This law is a direct carve out to delay and draw out lawsuits filed by individuals with mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. Once diagnosed, people with asbestos-related diseases generally live a year or less. Drawn-out lawsuits mean the victim is unlikely to benefit at all from the outcome of the suit.

Both SB 591 and SB 575 were met with filibusters from our Democratic caucus, causing the measures to be laid over. I’m afraid we haven’t seen the end of Franken-Tort measures, but count on me to actively oppose these changes that will hurt already-injured Missourians.