Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 3, 1995 TAG: 9505030061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press|
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
Dole's amendment would significantly broaden a product liability measure written by Sens. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., and Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. Their bill would impose a cap on punitive damage awards in faulty-products cases of $250,000 or three times economic damages, whichever is greater.
Dole said his proposal ``offers needed protections from lawsuit abuse to every American - small business or large, volunteer or charitable organizations. The spectre of lawsuit abuse hangs over us all.''
But Rockefeller repeatedly urged his colleagues to stick to the product liability legislation, warning that widening its focus could jeopardize final Senate passage.
The debate followed a Senate vote earlier in the day to limit punitive damage awards against doctors and other health care providers. Senators approved, 62-38, a provision by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, that would cap punitive damages in medical malpractice cases at two times a claimant's compensatory damages.
Compensatory damages are the combined total of economic damages, such as lost salary and medical bills, and less tangible noneconomic damages to compensate patients for loss of an eye or limb and for pain and suffering. The malpractice cap became part of a broader amendment adopted by the Senate, 53-47, to establish a uniform, nationwide standard of medical malpractice law.
by CNB