Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 4, 1995 TAG: 9505040113
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Opponents said the provision, which resembles a House version passed in March, could scuttle Senate passage of the overall product-liability bill written by Sens. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., and Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. Some senators have been pushing proposals to revamp faulty-product laws for 13 years.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said the Republicans won a battle Tuesday with passage of limits on medical malpractice awards, but they may lose the final war by having broadened the faulty-products bill.
``The more it's loaded up, the more problematic this issue could become,'' Daschle told reporters. The Republicans' ``lives are complicated with each new issue that's added to this bill,'' he said.
But Dole said his amendment was needed ``because our nation desperately needs broadly based relief from lawsuit abuse.''
The amendment significantly broadens the bill by capping punitive damages in all civil litigation - not just those involving faulty products - at twice a claimant's compensatory damages. Those 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 51-49 vote, mostly along party lines, brought the Senate legislation in line with a comprehensive package to overhaul the civil justice system that was passed by the House as part of the GOP's ``Contract With America.'' The House package includes a punitive damages cap in all civil lawsuits of $250,000 or three times economic damages, whichever is greater.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., voted in favor of the amendment, while Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., voted against it.
The Clinton administration has expressed opposition to some provisions of the House legislation but has not explicitly threatened to veto it.
White House spokeswoman Ginny Terzano said Wednesday the administration views the Dole provision in the same light as the House package and has similar objections.
The Senate also approved, by voice vote, a provision by freshman Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, to set a special $250,000 punitive damages cap for individual defendants whose net worth is less than $500,000 or for business owners or local governments with fewer than 25 full-time employees.
As Republicans pushed ahead on the eighth day of the Senate debate, they were challenged by one of their own number. Freshman Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., proposed an amendment that would apply caps on punitive damage awards for product liability only to cases in federal, not state, courts.
Thompson's amendment was rejected, 58-41.
Forty-five percent of all product liability cases - or about 22,000 last year - are tried in federal courts, according to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts.
Thompson said his provision was needed because the bill as written would jeopardize the balance between state and federal governments.
by CNB