This was a surprisingly busy session on the civil justice front; primarily because of the interesting dichotomy of having influential Republican lawmakers who are also trial attorneys. As a result, tort bills that would benefit employers met resistance and bills that would harm businesses (i.e. more legal liability exposure and higher damages) were supported.
Fortunately, the Indiana Chamber was mostly successful this year in improving (or maintaining) Indiana’s business legal climate.
A few examples are as follows:
House Bill 1124, a measure to allow discovery of civil proceeding advance payment (CPAP) contracts, a.k.a. lawsuit-lending loans, during litigation is now law. In a lawsuit, plaintiffs may receive a copy of a company’s litigation defense insurance agreement, which gives claimants insight into the company’s ability to settle and defend the suit. Now, companies will know whether a plaintiff’s claim is being bankrolled by a third party and the amount of the loan the claimant received. This mutual knowledge by both parties is more likely to facilitate efficient settlements.
There were also two bills on which the Chamber took diverging opinions that died in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The first, Senate Bill 163 (Evidence of Lack of Seat Belt Use), authored by Sen. Mike Gaskill (R-Pendleton), would have allowed evidence about who was wearing a seatbelt at the time of an accident into evidence. The Chamber supported this bill because it would have increased the possibility of comparative fault if someone was injured in an accident because they were unbuckled. This bill died unexpectedly when Sen. Rick Niemeyer (R-Lowell) cast a deciding vote against the bill in his very first vote as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Chamber adamantly opposed another bill that died in Senate Bill 288, which would have permitted the recovery of punitive damages in certain wrongful death lawsuits. Author Sen. Aaron Freeman (R-Indianapolis), a trial attorney, received support from his Republican committee colleague, Sen. Eric Koch (R-Bedford), who is also a trial attorney, as well as all Democratic members of the committee. The Judiciary Committee chairwoman, Sen. Liz Brown (R-Fort Wayne), never called SB 288 for a vote, which sealed its demise.
