OK In-Depth; Lawsuit Reform

State representatives this week voted largely along party lines to make changes to the way lawsuits are filed in Oklahoma. Speaker Todd Hyatt, so-called Justice and Common Sense Act of 2005, aims to reduce litigation, put limits on non-economic damages, and make it harder for residents to file class action lawsuits. Republicans like Lieutenant Governor Mary Fallon claimed the changes are needed to fix a system where too many people file lawsuits as their first option. The American Tort Reform Association issues an annual report called Judicial Hellhose, and unfortunately Oklahoma made their dishonorable mention list for 2004. Personal injury lawyers seek out these places because they know they will produce a favorable outcome and excessive verdict or settlement or favorable president. And it says following Texas clamping down, personal injury lawyers begin eyeing its neighbor Oklahoma as the next best place to channel their lawsuits. Oklahoma jobs, as we know, are migrating to Texas. Texas lawyers are

migrating to Oklahoma. House Republicans say Oklahoma courts are clogged with frivolous lawsuits that scare away local businesses and make health care more expensive by raising doctors medical malpractice insurance rates, but not everyone agrees with that assessment. Where's the proof? I mean, somebody can say something like that, but where's the proof? Patrick Carr is a Tulsa-based attorney with a law firm of Carr and Carr. Just go into the courthouse and talk to a judge there and say how many frivolous lawsuits do you see these days? And they're going to say we don't see any of frivolous lawsuits or very few frivolous lawsuits. The problem is you're seeing a massive public relations there for which is being funded by industry to create that perception. And they've built it up into this huge myth. And when people hear tort reform, they think oh my gosh, frivolous lawsuits, we don't want frivolous lawsuits. Oh my gosh, I don't want frivolous lawsuits either because I've got lots of very good clients who've had very serious injuries who

want to get into the courthouse. In many ways, that's where the crux of the issue is trapped, with one side charging that so-called junk lawsuits are running rampant throughout the state, and the other side denying that they even exist. State Senator Glenn Coffee, who advocates the Republican-led changes to the system, admits he doesn't have any specific documentation about damage awards or attorney's fees that would bolster his side's claims. We don't have any actual data related to that because a lot of those are settlements and settlements will remain private. And so you don't have a database that you can go to. But Coffee says that opponents of the proposed changes share that responsibility. Well, why won't the trial lawyers go get waivers from their clients and release those settlements? If they're saying they're not that large, they could do the same thing, get releases from their clients. They wouldn't have to release names or private information and show us that these on hold are under control. They haven't chosen to do that either. Ultimately, Attorney Patrick Carr says he's concerned that provisions like limiting awards for pain and suffering give the message

that juries cannot be trusted to dispense even-handed justice. And he says the bill's requirement that losers and trials must pay all attorney's fees sets a bad precedent. We better look very closely before we give up these rights, rights which have been on the books for decades that have served Oklahoma well and protected our families from dangerous tires, riffs of crush when cars roll over, from batteries that explode, from insurance company abuse. Everything in this bill is skewed for the benefit of big corporations and big insurance companies. The bill now advances to the state senate to face a competing measure supported by Governor Brad Henry. I'm K-G-O-U News Director Scott Gourian.