Learn what’s happening in Civil Justice issues as reported in the news and press releases.
WCJC Press Releases
Medical Liability Legislation will Increase Healthcare Costs: WCJC Press Release, Jan. 19, 2010. Bill Would Enrich Trial Lawyers at the Expense of Businesses and Employees.
Senate Removes Liability Provisions from Budget: WCJC Press Release, June 19, 2009. Coalition of over 70 business groups commends Senate Democrats for action.
Assembly Pulls Liability Provisions from Budget: WCJC Press Release, June 10, 2009. Employers Applaud Assembly Democratic Action.
Opposition to Liability Provisions Grows to 70 – Opposition, Controversy Grow to Liability Provisions: 70 Businesses and Organizations Appeal to Legislators – June 5, 2009
Fine Print Reverses Trial Lawyer Amendment - WCJC Press Release, June 3, 2009. Budget Amendment Makes Liability Provision More Extreme.
Trial Lawyers Disagree over Liability Provisions in Budget - WCJC Press Release, Apr. 27, 2009. In a statement released by the Wisconsin Association for Justice, trial lawyer Mark Thomsen disagrees with one of his largest members and the 57% of Wisconsin voters who oppose Governor Doyle‟s changes to Joint and Several Liability laws.
Wisconsin Voters Oppose Lawsuit Changes in Governor’s Budget – WCJC Press Release, April 16, 2009. Bi-Partisan Poll shows Strong Opposition across Political Spectrum.
Trial Lawyers, Business Groups Agree on Impact of Budget Provisions – WCJC Press Release, Apr. 8, 2009. More lawsuits from sweeping changes in Gov. Doyle’s Budget.
Major Policy Provisions Buried in Budget will Hurt Wisconsin Businesses – WCJC Press Release, Mar. 23, 2009.
“Wisconsin can’t promote quality jobs and lawsuit abuse at the same time,” said Bill G. Smith, State Director of the National Federation of Independent Business – Wisconsin. “The liability trap hidden in the state budget will hurt those businesses, particularly small businesses, that we need to create jobs.”
Newspaper Editorials
Serious flaws in state budget (opinion): Beloit Daily News, June 9, 2009. These kind of policy issues have no business being buried in the budget. They are major changes with large implications that deserve transparency, debate and full public input. Partisan payoffs do not belong in the budget, especially at a time when Wisconsin’s citizens are in deep trouble.
The state budget is bad bet for Wisconsin’s future (opinion): Wisconsin State Journal, June 7, 2009. In Wisconsin, the worries ought to be compounded by a 2009-11 budget plan that blindly assumes the future will be rosy.
Prune the policy from Wisconsin’s state budget plan (opinion): Wisconsin State Journal, June 5, 2009. Evidence for these policies should be openly debated, and the public should have the opportunity to hold lawmakers accountable for a specific vote. The policies should not slip through when a vote on the budget is taken.
Liability change should come out of budget (opinion): Appleton Post-Crescent, June 2, 2009. The best thing to do is for one of both of the houses to take it out of the bill. Or, maybe Doyle will remove it with a veto because it’s been changed. Either way is fine. But it shouldn’t become law.
Budget dealings are insult to public (opinion): Appleton Post-Crescent, May 31, 2009. You remember the adage “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”? The Democrats have absolute power in the capitol and have acted disrespectfully toward the people of the state. If those who created this travesty don’t listen to the public, their party may pay the price in the next election.
Another disappointing budget process (opinion): La Crosse Tribune, May 31, 2009. One of our major complaints for years has been the loading of policy items into what should primarily be a financial document.
Bad state budget (column): Manitowoc Herald News, May 29, 2009. State budget harmful to business.
Doyle’s liability law proposal is nowhere near fair (opinion): Racine Journal Times, May 26, 2009. This piece of legislation has nothing to do with the state budget and should be summarily removed from the budget bill – if not by the Joint Finance Committee, then when it hits the full Legislature. We know who will be at fault if it stays in and that would carry a lot of political liability.
Only halfway to a clean state budget in Wisconsin (opinion): Wisconsin State Journal, May 20, 2009. It’s time to finish the job by scrubbing out the 40 pieces of policy still sticking to the state’s two-year spending plan.
Law firm gives a lot, gets a lot with Doyle: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May. 10, 2009. Trial lawyers have been showing the love to Gov. Jim Doyle ever since he took statewide office, and now he is returning the affection.
‘We will not only take our jobs but also jobs from our suppliers’: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May. 8, 2009. Gov. Jim Doyle budget-by-trickery game comes crashing down, now to the tune of a $6.5 billion deficit.
Liability Change Could Doom Companies (opinion): Janesville Gazette, May 5, 2009. The change would be yet another blow dealt out by Democrats in Madison to companies – perhaps even your employer – trying to survive in this economic downturn.
Block the return of lawsuit abuse (opinion): Wisconsin State Journal, Apr. 28, 2009. Legislators should strip from the state budget Gov. Jim Doyle’s sneaky attempt to sweep away an important piece of liability law reform.
Uncivil fault finding (opinion): Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Apr. 23, 2009. The Joint Finance Committee should strip joint and several liability issues from the budget. Existing law already compromises in favor of injured parties.
Pluck policy from state budget (opinion):Wisconsin State Journal, Apr. 11, 2009. The Legislature’s budget committee — led by Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, and Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison — should strip all 80 non-fiscal policy items out of the budget. That way, all of these proposals must stand or fall on their own merits in the light of day.
Boot out budget’s nonfiscal matters (opinion): Green Bay Press-Gazette, Apr. 10, 2009. Democratic leaders should remove nonfiscal policy items from the budget bill and send them as separate legislation to the appropriate committees. And Doyle should, as promised, veto any nonfiscal policy items that the Legislature inserts into the budget.
Afraid of scrutiny? (opinion): Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Apr. 8, 2009. Two items in particular in the governor’s budget have more to do with policy than the state’s finances. They should be treated as separate bills.
Keep policy issues out of state budget (opinion): Sheboygan Press, Apr. 7, 2009. What Gov. Doyle has proposed outside of government spending are some pretty substantive items and should be fully explored by committees and be further explored through public hearings. This usually doesn’t happen when they are made part of the budget. Instead they become political volleyballs that are batted back and forth.
Changes don’t serve state budget’s function (opinion): Green Bay Press-Gazette, Mar. 26, 2008. More and more questions are arising about why certain policy changes are even in the budget – and why the governor didn’t mention some of them in the first place.
Get non-budget items out of the budget (opinion): La Crosse Tribune, Mar. 26, 2009. They’re important enough to the future of our state to be debated separately and openly, not as add-ons to a state budget that’s being debated in the most economically challenging time in decades.
Op-Eds
Governor’s budget bill would increase auto insurance rates (Commentary): Sen. Scott Fitzgerald – April 17, 2009.
Articles
Dave Zweifel’s Plain Talk: Dems should dump budget’s policy items: Madison Capital Times, June 7, 2009. If the Democrats who are now in control of the Legislature really cared about open and clean government, as they claim to, they’d jettison these unrelated items from the budget on the floors of the Senate and Assembly this week.
Businesses band together against liability proposal: WKOWTV.com, May 21, 2009. More than 50 businesses and organizations have joined together to oppose Gov. Jim Doyle’s bid to change Wisconsin’s liability laws. The governor’s proposal would increase the number of victims who could receive full damages in civil lawsuits filed over injuries.
Insurance change could send Wisconsin ski areas downhill: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 9, 2009. Since skiing is inherently a risky sport, the state’s ski industry is perhaps the best example of what the changed rules mean for businesses.
County supervisors take aim at insurance provisions in governor’s budget plan: Wild Rivers News, April 29, 2009. Claim auto premiums will soar under Doyle’s proposals.
Lawyers divided over proposal: Wisconsin Law Journal, Mar. 19, 2009.
Doyle seeks to alter current joint and several liability standards that require a defendant be found at least 51 percent negligent to be liable for full damages. The proposed change would only require that a defendant’s negligence be equal to or greater than that of the person seeking recovery.
Doyle leading state back to judicial hell – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 6, 2009.
For the past decade, Wisconsin has said that each losing defendant is responsible for paying as much of the damages as he is at fault for. This is about to change back to the old standard, which was: Someone’s got to pay, and you’ve got money.
Other
Open letter to Gov. Doyle and Wisconsin’s Democratic Legislators: Wisconsin State Journal, June 9, 2009. Jack Waterman, Wisconsin Dells.
Employers Agree: Lawsuit Changes Hurt Wisconsin: Wisconsin Industries Employing Nearly 2 Million Workers Speak Out
Stealthy or Shifty Tort Change: by John Kircher, April 20, 2009.
Changing liability rules at exactly the wrong time: The McIver Institute for Public Policy
State budget insurance provision is bad for Wisconsin: Milwaukee Biz Blog, April 8, 2009.
Proposed state budget worries local insurance companies: Fond du Lac Reporter, Apr. 14, 2009. Changes to keep pace with rising auto, medical costs