A bill amending the Fair Share Act to bring the statute back in line with the original legislative intent has been introduced by Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin County. PCCJR led the charge in having this much needed legislation introduced.
The Fair Share Act, which became law in 2011, provides that defendants can only be held liable for damages proportional to their responsibility. Prior to the law being enacted, a defendant that was found only minimally at fault could have been forced to pay 100 percent of the plaintiff’s damages if others who shared fault were immune or unable to pay. The Fair Share Act prevented plaintiffs from targeting deep pocketed defendants without liability in order to secure a big pay day.
Unfortunately, over the past 13 years activist judges have undermined the legislative intent of the law and eviscerated the Fair Share Act’s application, effectively expanding liability for the business and health care communities. For example, in Roverano v. John Crane, Inc., the state Supreme Court negated the use of the Fair Share Act in asbestos cases and in Spencer v. Johnson, an appellate court ruled that the Fair Share Act only comes into play if the plaintiff is partially at fault.
House Bill 2390 addresses these judicial overreaches and restores the Fair Share Act to its legislative intent. These fixes will help to right size the state’s civil litigation climate, bringing fairness and balance back to the courts and adding a layer of legal stability and predictability for the business and health care communities.