Issues

‘Venue shopping,’ ‘apology’ legislation next up on Citizens to Protect PA Jobs’ lawsuit abuse reform agenda

With victory on the Fair Share Act realized in June 2011, Citizens to Protect PA Jobs is encouraging lawmakers to pass additional lawsuit abuse reforms that would continue to create a more favorable environment for job growth and business investment.

High on the priority list is venue reform, currently contained in House Bill 1976.

“Venue shopping” occurs when plaintiffs’ attorneys file cases in jurisdictions known for awarding outrageous jury awards, even if the injury or damage took place hundreds of miles away.

In Pennsylvania, that jurisdiction is Philadelphia, which again was named the American Tort Reform Association’s No. 1 Judicial Hellhole for hosting a disproportionate share of Pennsylvania’s lawsuits because of its pro-plaintiff, high jury award reputation. (The same report listed Pennsylvania as a “point of light” for enactment of the Fair Share Act, resulting in the study’s authors to claim “there is hope for the future” in the Commonwealth.)

The problem with venue shopping is that it creates an imbalanced and unpredictable legal climate in the state that drives away job creation and business investment; leads to higher consumer costs for goods and services; and hinders new product research and development.

In fact, venue shopping had such a detrimental impact on affordable health care, that lawmakers and the courts ended the practice in Pennsylvania with Act 127 of 2002. Since that time, the number of medical malpractice filings filed in Philadelphia dropped from 1,365 in 2002 to 577 in 2011, a 58 percent decrease. This important change helped bring some stability to Pennsylvania’s medical malpractice crisis. Now, Citizens to Protect PA Jobs wants this reform expanded to include all civil liability cases –so Pennsylvanians can realize broader benefits.

The commonsense bill supported by Citizens to Protect PA Jobs would require that the plaintiff needs to either reside in the area where the lawsuit is being filed or the incident must have occurred there.

For more information on how “litigation tourism” caused by venue shopping hurts employers and job seekers, click here.

Another lawsuit abuse reform priority is commonly known as “apology” or “sorry works” legislation. House Bill 495 would allow medical professionals to have honest discussions with patients and their families following an unforeseen medical outcome without the fear that their conversation will be the sole basis for litigation. The measure does not stop people from filing a lawsuit. Citizens to Protect PA Jobs believes that professionals should be able to speak openly with patients and give them the apology they want and deserve without worrying that their conversation will be used against them in court.
Research shows that anger, not greed, is the driving force behind most medical malpractice lawsuits, according to the Pennsylvania Health Care Association. This measure seeks to prevent lawsuits that are filed because a health-care professional appeared to be uncaring or unprofessional, when they were actually advised against speaking honestly for fear of a costly lawsuit.

Medical malpractice filings have gone down in states that adopted similar legislation (35 states have apology laws in place). Reducing the number of medical malpractice lawsuits could lead to lower health-care costs – a tremendous burden on employers and employees.

Citizens to Protect PA Jobs supports these proposals because they would add fairness, predictability and balance to the state’s legal system. This would give job creators the confidence to invest and grow Pennsylvania’s economy without the threat of undue litigation further adding to the cost of doing business in the Commonwealth.