TORT REFORM Taft touts lawsuit bill

The governor warns of 'tremendous failure' if the injury lawsuit bill dies.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Gov. Bob Taft warned lawmakers of "a tremendous failure" if they do not pass a bill to place limits on personal injury lawsuits in Ohio.
Taft's warning came as House and Senate Republicans continued to argue over whether to cap financial awards juries can provide to injury victims.
The GOP-controlled Senate wants the caps to limit multimillion-dollar verdicts that businesses say are causing insurance companies to raise their premiums in anticipation of being sued.
Republicans in charge of the House are taking a more cautious approach, concerned about the constitutionality of caps, which opponents of the measure say deny Ohioans their day in court.
The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill last week that removes the caps, leading to Taft's letter Friday to House Speaker Larry Householder. Both are Republicans.
Taft wants a bill that includes caps.
"I strongly believe that this will be a tremendous failure if the Legislature cannot enact a meaningful comprehensive tort reform bill by the end of session," Taft said in the letter.
Confidence
Householder said Tuesday night he was confident the House and Senate would reach a deal that would result in a strong bill all could support, including Taft.
"I'd hate to be the governor that turned down probably one of the best tort laws that has gone into effect in the last 20 years in the country," Householder said.
Householder postponed a possible vote while negotiations continued. He said a vote in the full House should come Wednesday.
Also Tuesday, the Senate approved a related House measure that would make it harder to sue companies over workplace injuries.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Keith Faber, R-Celina, requires an injured worker to prove an employer did something deliberately intending to cause an injury.
The bill is similar to a measure ruled unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court in 1999, which said the burden of proof required of injured workers was excessive.
Business groups support the bill, saying hurt employees can still recover medical expenses and lost wages from workers' compensation, and can still receive payment if a business violated safety requirements.
The owner of a Canton printing company said he was sued by an employee hurt in October 2001 after another worker disabled a safety mechanism on a press without the company's knowledge.
The worker had already received workers' compensation and $6,000 because of the safety violation, said Ray Gonzalez, president of Associated Visual Communications, which employs about 35 people.
Fair compensation
But the company also settled a lawsuit over the injury for $4,000 and paid out $30,000 in legal fees. The pending bill would have prevented the lawsuit while ensuring the worker received fair compensation for his injury, Gonzalez said.
"The thousands of dollars and lost production time spent on a bruised finger could have been better spent on hiring another employee or purchasing additional equipment," he said Tuesday.
But trial attorneys say the bill creates too high a standard of proof for injured workers.
"You have to argue that somebody committed a felony, committed a criminal act before it would qualify," said Richard Mason, executive director of the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers.
The Senate changed the bill to make clear it wouldn't cover cases of sexual harassment; the bill now goes back to the House to consider that change.