Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston
Globe
May 29, 1999, Saturday ,First Edition
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A10
LENGTH: 454 words
HEADLINE:
Alabama hopes new laws fade lure of 'jackpot justice'
BYLINE: Associated Press
BODY:
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Alabama, where a family who sued over
$1,200 in satellite dish payments won $581
million, is taking steps to curb the big jury verdicts that have given the state
a reputation for dispensing "jackpot justice."
Governor Don Siegelman
this week signed bills that stop plaintiffs' lawyers from shopping around for
friendly juries and judges, and make it tougher to get lawsuits certified as
class-actions. A cap on punitive damages - awarded by juries to punish
wrongdoing in civil cases - is expected to get final approval from the
Legislature and Siegelman on Tuesday.
"I want the word to go forward now
that this is not tort hell but it's a heavenly place to do business," said state
Senator Lowell Barron, a Democrat.
Alabama earned its reputation from
jury awards of $4 million to a doctor who did not like the fact
that BMW had not disclosed a repair paint job on his new car, and
$581 million to a family who claimed they were overcharged for
two satellite dishes.
Lawmakers and business groups who say the mammoth
verdicts hurt Alabama's ability to attract companies have been pushing for years
for changes in the state's tort laws.
The $581 million
verdict, which a judge can still set aside or reduce, was clearly on lawmakers'
minds as they approved the reform measures.
"There is no doubt that
verdict helped push it over the edge," said Gene Marsh, a University of Alabama
law professor.
Previously, insurance companies could be sued in any
county in which they did business. That enabled plaintiffs to file their suits
in rural counties known for large verdicts and a distrust of big corporations.
The new law limits those suits to the counties where the alleged
wrongdoing occurred, where the corporation is based, and where the customer
lived at the time.
If the caps on damages are approved, punitive damages
will be limited to three times the amount awarded in compensatory damages, or
$500,000, whichever is greater. That would means the verdict in
the $581 million case would have been no higher than
$3.9 million.
Plaintiffs' lawyers have said Alabama's
consumer protection laws are so weak that such verdicts have been consumers'
only real protection against being cheated.
Greg Breedlove, president of
the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association, said that if there is a problem with
Alabama's tort laws, the courts can correct it.
For example, he said,
the $4 million won in the BMW case was struck down by the
Supreme Court and eventually sliced to $50,000.
"The
reality is we don't need wholesale changes to our tort law," he said. Instead,
he said, the changes "address the perception of that problem."
LOAD-DATE: June 02, 1999 
