What was the role of defense counsel and their organizations in the tort reform effort?
Martin: Defense counsel monitor all of these legislative efforts and sometimes the TADC will take a position on a certain bill or parts of certain bills. Other times, because of the diverse constituencies that defense lawyers represent, it seems prudent not to take a position. I was not involved in the legislative sessions when House Bill 4 was passed, but I know that TADC supported certain parts of it and did not support other parts of it. Different constituencies in the business community had different perspectives on this legislation. House Bill 4’s medical malpractice provisions placed a $250,000 dollar cap on non-economic damages in suits against doctors and hospitals. This was very advantageous obviously to the doctors, hospitals and their insurers. However, where the doctor or a hospital is a codefendant along with a pharmaceutical company or a medical device manufacturer, the fact the doctors’ and hospitals’ liability is capped can place the manufacturer at a disadvantage. The
