This week the Tennessee Governor signed into law a lawsuit deform bill that places a $1 million cap on non-economic damages such as “pain & suffering” in cases of spinal cord injuries, severe burns and the death of a parent of a minor child.
The stated purpose of the new law is to "...reduce the risk of large jury awards and lessen costly risk throughout the court and insurance systems". It will surely serve its purpose but at what cost and to whom?
What this law does is shift the loss suffered by a severely injured person from the business that caused the loss to the person who suffered it. It saves businesses and insurance companies huge amounts of money that would normally have gone to a seriously injured victim or the minor child of a wrongful death victim.
The new law takes away a part of American rights, "trial by a jury”. The Governor and legislature of Tennessee (without hearing any of the evidence) are telling you that they know better what is a just outcome of a serious injury or death case than the Tennessee jury who hears and decides the case.
Governor Haslam and Valerie Nagoshiner (lobbyist from the National Federation of Independent Business in Tennessee) say they are protecting small business. I challenge them to point out a few cases where a Tennessee jury has awarded a seriously injured accident victim an amount over $750,000 in non-economic damages and the payment of that amount caused a small business to fail. I don't believe they can show you a few examples much less one.
Fair is fair. Would it be fair to guarantee every Plaintiff an award of $1 million? No. Of course not and for the same reasons. Right is right, wrong is wrong. This law is wrong. It is unfair to everyone. Everyone but big business and insurance companies.
What this new law does is protect big business from being fully accountable when a Tennessee jury decides that the big business should be held accountable. What this new law does is protect insurance company profits. Insurance companies are not small business and rarely are they headquartered in Tennessee.
Tennesseans, your right to a have serious injury case decided by a jury has been handcuffed. Big business and insurance money has bought your politicians, played on your fears, manipulated the facts and concealed their real intentions for their benefit and to the detriment of Tennesseans that are seriously injured by big business. They have manipulated your government representatives to keep themselves from being held fully accountable when a Tennessee jury decides they have injured someone severely and should be held accountable.
This law is the same as making a law that says, “If you cause a traffic collision and damage another person’s car, the maximum you have to pay is $100.00, no matter how much damage has been done. This will reduce the uncertainty of driving a car and will encourage more cars on the road.”
Americans, do you see where this is going?
Who really benefits from this new law? And at what cost to seriously injured accident victims?
Will this law make Tennesseans safer from negligent actions of big business?
If you are vacationing in Tennessee, does this law make you feel safer if you are run over and paralyzed by a big rig from Arkansas?
Is this fair? Big business and insurance companies think so. What do you think? I’d love to hear your opinion.
SLS Consulting