JACKSON - Business and industry groups bemoaned the Senate's failure Thursday to debate a bill they hoped could lead to limits on multimillion-dollar damage lawsuits.
"The big question is why?" said Lex Taylor, a businessman and chairman of Mississippians for Economic Progress. "The Legislature heard testimony from business owners, doctors and caregivers for our elderly, so the problems of an unfair legal system were clearly demonstrated.
"It is not only disappointing but it is extremely alarming to know that our Legislature does not feel that Mississippians deserve quality health care and ample job opportunities," Taylor said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Bennie Turner, D-West Point, said because business and the medical community and plaintiffs' lawyers were at such loggerheads, he decided to let the bill die.
"I think both sides are pretty much en-trenched and I think most legislators ap-preciate some spirit of compromise to try to address the difficult issues that we face. That simply wasn't present and available to us in this instance," said Turner, a lawyer.
Tort reform supporters believed the bill may have given them a means to limit punitive damages.
Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood, said he must have received "a hundred letters" from both sides. He said a tort reform bill will not go through without participation from the insurance companies, who are "the ones writing the premiums."
"A cap on tort reform would have hopefully influenced premiums indirectly, but the insurance companies made no public commitment that it would have done that," Jordan said.
The bill faced a Thursday deadline for consideration. Because the Senate didn't vote on it, the bill died. Bills for tort reform - changing the state's civil justice laws - died under an earlier deadline in the House.
A bill that passed the Senate last week addresses nursing home lawsuits but it cannot be amended to put limits on punitive damages.
For months, opposing sides in the tort reform debate battled to sway public opinion through television, radio and newspaper advertisements and numerous news conferences at the state Capitol.
On one side were doctors, nursing home operators, manufacturers and others who say the state's volatile legal climate is driving up insurance premiums and making it impossible for them to earn a living or care properly for those in need.
On the other side were plaintiffs' attorneys who said they're still waiting for someone to produce real proof that the state's legal system is broken.
The bill that died Thursday would have allowed either party in a malpractice case involving $5 million or more in damages to request that the jury pool include people from surrounding counties. It was an attempt to address concerns that plaintiffs' lawyers were searching for cases in counties with reputations for returning large jury awards.
"The legislative process has slammed the proverbial door in the face of the entire business and medical communities," said Ron Aldridge, Mississippi director of the National Federation of Independent Business.
Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck said she agreed with Turner that compromise was needed by both sides.
"It is a very sensitive issue to many across the state. Hopefully, we can have both sides to continue working on this issue so they bring forth some meaningful and fair legislation," Tuck said.
David Baria, a Jackson attorney and incoming president of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association, said he was pleased lawmakers ignored "hype" from the proponents of tort reform.
"It gives me great comfort that our system is set up with enough checks and balances that really bad stuff doesn't become law," Baria said.
The bill on nursing homes puts limits on how long a patient can wait to sue a nursing home after an injury is discovered.
Nursing homes would be protected by the same two-year statute of limitations that now governs hospitals and physicians. Currently, patients have three years after an injury is discovered to sue a nursing home.
That bill has been sent to the House.
Tort reform has made little progress in recent sessions of the Legislature, where bills have been bottled up in committees run by trial lawyers.
An alternative to tort reform might be a state-run insurance agency that can cover the medical community, Jordan said. "That alternative is something we out to explore," he said.
The bills are Senate Bill 2342 and 2654.
