Insurance Regulation/
Tort Reform

Position Statements

• A/E Procurement
• Architects in Government
• Architectural Education
• Capitol Budgeting
• Codes and Standards
• Community
• Design of State Funded Transportation Systems
• Energy--Codes & Energy
• Equal Opportunity
• Historic Preservation
• Housing
• Insurance Regulation/Tort Reform
• Owner’s Project Representative
• Public Works Project Delivery
• Registration and Licensing
• Regulatory Reform
• School Construction
• Statute of Repose
• Sustainable Design
• Taxes
• Transportation

The Council recognizes that the affordability and availability of liability insurance affects the ability of architects to provide architectural services and impacts the public's right to adequate protection.

The Council recognizes that high insurance premiums and loss of coverage result, in part, from the high frequency of litigation, excessive jury awards, and the substantial transactional costs involved in litigation.

The Council urges continued action by the legislature to enact changes to:

• Establish objective limits on awards for non-economic damages, thereby leading to greater predictability in the amount of awards;
  
• Eliminate "joint and several" liability, thereby limiting liability for damages to that percentage of fault attributing to each party;
  
• Differentiate an architect's liability from that of the creator of the liability, e.g., as with hazardous or defective materials, and indemnify architects where such liability is not caused by their gross negligence or intentional misconduct; and
  
• Discourage frivolous or non-meritorious lawsuits.

The Council supports a Certificate of Merit/Screening Panel System that requires that before someone files a negligence claim against a professional, an expert or a court appointed panel must review the facts and certify that the claim is not frivolous.

The Council is concerned about the need to provide reasonable limits for non-economic losses and to eliminate potential windfalls to purposes for which awards were not intended.
The Council opposes legislation relative to additional insured and believes indemnification should be mutual; each party should bear responsibility for their own mistakes or omissions.

The Council opposes legislation relative to employer liability under worker's compensation and recognizes jobsite as clearly the responsibility of the general contractor for a project. The Council supports revised procedures to simplify and add certainty to the calculation of worker’s compensation benefits.

The Council encourages legislation that clearly provides design professionals the right to lien.

The Council opposes legislation removing the necessity of showing specific intent to defraud and lowering the threshold for filing a claim.