Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed a bill that would have put a $1 million cap on awards for non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, in lawsuits stemming from commercial motor vehicle accidents.
The trucking industry has pushed to limit damages in such accidents, citing nuclear verdicts in the tens of millions of dollars that spike insurance rates or make it difficult to get motor carrier coverage at all.
In a statement, Evers called the $1 million cap arbitrary and said “the law should redress a party’s injury, not repress an injured party.” The bill also violates the U.S. and Wisconsin constitutions’ guarantees of due process, he said, and would conflict with existing state law, inviting “continuous litigation.”
Doug Morris, who works in government affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said Evers doesn’t grasp the impact of massive damage awards on the trucking industry and individual truckers.
“The governor has failed to understand the abuse of the system by trial lawyers and harm caused to the industry, especially small-business truckers, by allowing unlimited verdicts,” Morris said in a statement to FreightWaves. “Truckers are essential workers, not banks.”
The State Senate passed the cap on nonmonetary damages with mostly Republican support. The State Assembly, which is also controlled by Republicans, passed it on a voice vote.
The American Trucking Associations supported the bill, arguing in a news release after the measure passed the Legislature that “frivolous lawsuits … have perverted the system into a profit center for the plaintiffs’ bar.” Neal Kedzie, president of the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association, said that “Wisconsin’s trucking industry is essential to everyone in our state, and rampant lawsuit abuse is impeding our ability to do our job safely and efficiently.”
In testimony in January backing the legislation, Republican state Rep. Rick Gundrum cited an American Transportation Research Institute study which found that verdicts of greater than $1 million in truck crash lawsuits had risen on average from $2.3 million to $22.3 million from 2010 to 2018.
However, the Wisconsin Association for Justice, an attorney organization, blasted the bill as “an attack on Wisconsin citizens’ ability to obtain justice after experiencing catastrophic injuries and death on Wisconsin roadways.”
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