Tort Reform

Back to the Practice Resource Group Page

March 2004

Issue

AIA Washington Council recognizes that the affordability and availability of liability insurance affects the ability of architects to provide architectural services and impacts the publics right to adequate protection. The Council also 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.

Background

AIA Washington Council has been a supporting member of the Liability Reform Coalition (LRC) since its inception in the mid-80s. The LRC’s Mission is, “To limit the expansion of tort liability, to reduce the cost of defending lawsuits, to speed resolution of civil actions and to improve fairness and certainty in our civil justice system for everyone.”

The political climate in the Washington State Legislature on this issue is partisan. Heavily influenced by contributions from trial lawyers, Democrats block most attempts at reform. Business-friendly Republicans support the efforts of the LRC. For this reason, the strategy of the LRC has been to introduce “omnibus” tort bills during times when the Republicans control at least one house of the Legislature. An omnibus bill has so many parts that most legislators will find something they can support, even overriding something they may reject.

During the 2003-2004 biennium, LRC lobbied an omnibus bill (SB 5728) that both years passed the Senate, but failed in the House. This year, for the first time, Democrats in the House introduced several bills containing elements of tort reform that they could support. A few of those bills, most notably HB 2485, revising the rate of interest on certain tort judgments, passed the Legislature.

The LRC has not yet met to decide where to go from here. Two options being considered are: 1) actively support candidates for governor and the Legislature that support tort reform, and 2) start an initiative campaign.