BY BOBBY HARRISON
Daily Journal Jackson Bureau
JACKSON - The debate about changes in Mississippi's civil justice system is nothing new, though the level of intensity has probably never been as high as it is now.
For years, a segment of society has been calling for reforms to limit the amount of money juries can award and for other changes.
Every year bills are filed in the Legislature to change the system to make it easier or more difficult to win a lawsuit against a business or a doctor. Normally, those bills go nowhere.
What most describe as the last major change in Mississippi's civil justice system occurred in 1993. It was during the administration of Gov. Kirk Fordice, who proudly signed the legislation into law but spent the rest of his tenure criticizing the legislative leadership, saying more needed to be done.
This year the cry for changes in the civil justice system has hit a crescendo not reached since 1993 and is even louder.
"It is much more contentious now than it was in 1993,'' said Attorney General Mike Moore, in office since 1988. "I think one thing that is adding to the debate is the medical community. The number of doctors participating in the debate instead of just sending their lobbyists is adding to the awareness.''
Indeed, for most of the 1990s, little was heard from doctors about civil justice system changes. Doctors and other health care providers generally receive much more protection from lawsuits than do other businesses. For instance, a person planning to sue a doctor has a much shorter time frame to bring that lawsuit than a person suing another business.
Earlier during the current administration minor adjustments were made in the civil justice system to provide doctors, hospitals and other health care providers additional protection.
But doctors have come out in full force this year - due primarily to skyrocketing costs for their medical malpractice insurance. Doctors have said reforms in the state's civil justice system are needed to get those costs in line. The number of lawsuits and large jury verdicts are driving those costs up, doctors say.
Other businesses basically are riding the coattails of the medical community, which is the primary source for any political momentum in changing the civil justice system.
"In 1993, the call for reform was driven by product liability,'' said House Speaker Tim Ford, D-Baldwyn. "This time it is being pushed by the medical community.''
Ford said in 1993 the trial attorneys and the business community were forced to negotiate to reach a compromise. In 1993, the primary concern was protecting small, Mississippi businesses that might be sued for selling a defective product made by another, large business. Now there is more concern for protecting those large out-of-state companies.
There are some other key differences, too.
In 1993, then-Rep. Mike Mills of Fulton, a current federal judge, chaired the House Judiciary A Committee where the legislation changing the civil justice system was sent. Mills was viewed as being in favor of reform. Many business groups said Ford was forced to place Mills in the influential position to win votes in his bid to be re-elected speaker. In 2000, the business people say, Ford was unopposed for speaker and appointed Rep. Percy Watson, D-Hattiesburg, generally seen as a friend of trial attorneys, to the post of Judiciary A chairmen.
Ford discounts those charges.
"I appoint the most capable and experienced people,'' he said. "When I appointed Percy, tort reform was not even an issue.''
Another key difference was that in 1993, then-Lt. Gov. Eddie Briggs, who presided over the Senate, sent legislation changing the civil justice system to the Insurance Committee where it was passed rather than the customary Judiciary Committee where it likely would have been killed.
During the past session, limited changes in the civil justice system passed the Judiciary Committee. But Judiciary Chairman Sen. Bennie Turner, D-West Point, killed that legislation rather than calling it up on the Senate floor where there was likely to be a fight to incorporate more substantive changes to the bill. Legislation providing nursing homes more protection from lawsuits did pass the Senate, but died in the House Judiciary A Committee.
Ford did send a bill to provide banks and other lending institutions more protection from lawsuits to the Banks and Banking Committee rather than the Judiciary A Committee. The legislation went virtually unnoticed in passing the House and won approval in the Senate after a contentious fight. But Gov. Ronnie Musgrove vetoed the legislation, and there was no effort to override his veto.
