Last year, I pointed out a victory for consumers in Wisconsin:
Wisconsin Going In The Right Direction On Auto Insurance, Mike Bryant | September 10, 2009 9:33 AM
Now with a new administration and leadership in Madison, it looks like it’s payback time to big business, the insurance companies, and most of all, those that cause harm to others. The changes included:
• Limits noneconomic damages to $750,000 in medical malpractice cases at nursing homes. That limit matches the one already in place for other types of medical malpractice cases.
• Limits punitive damages to $200,000 or double the amount of compensatory damages, whichever is higher.
• Raise the standards for qualifying people as experts when they testify.
Each of these new laws have their issues. Damage caps penalize those with the most damage and who have suffered the greatest harm. It doesn’t do a thing to prevent the mythical frivolous claims the proponents claim to be going after. It actually adds to the frivolous defenses and gives insurance companies reasons not to pay. It’s the equivalent of getting rid of holding in a football game by taking passing out of the game.
The expert change, is far less complicated than the proponents try to make it. Basically, they are making it harder to qualify experts. This becomes important in cases with newer issues. So faulty products can get away with the damage they do, by claiming that, "Gee how could we have known?" and since the plaintiffs expert would be dealing with a new issue, they can’t be qualified.
But each of these pale in comparison to the the damage to society with a cap on punitive damages. When you look at punitive damage cases, there really aren’t that many. Thing is, when they do get awarded, they are done so because a company did something real bad and we want to make sure they never do it again. Remember the Exxon Valdez? $200,000 penalty! That’s pocket change and they could give it to you in oily money. Why in the world would the legislature think it was a good idea to allow grossly negligent companies to now create a cost benefit analysis on how much damage they could do? It’s making murder a misdemeanor or a petty misdemeanor. Wisconsin native Jeffrey Dahmer would have loved that.
