RALEIGH -- North Carolina's legal climate is vital to our state's overall jobs climate. The laws that determine how civil lawsuits are handled in North Carolina affect all of us - those who sue and those who defend themselves against lawsuits, including employers of all types and sizes. A civil liability system that is balanced and fair contributes significantly to a favorable environment for jobs and is good for all North Carolinians.
RALEIGH -- North Carolina's legal climate is vital to our state's overall jobs climate. The laws that determine how civil lawsuits are handled in North Carolina affect all of us - those who sue and those who defend themselves against lawsuits, including employers of all types and sizes. A civil liability system that is balanced and fair contributes significantly to a favorable environment for jobs and is good for all North Carolinians.
Legislation being considered in the state Senate right now would overhaul North Carolina's civil liability system and lawsuit laws in a way that would disrupt the critical balance needed to protect North Carolinians and jobs. In considering this issue, it's important to get the whole story.
The fact that House Bill 813 would do away with the state's longstanding contributory negligence law - or "contrib," as lawyers call it - is not the whole story or the whole problem.
That it would do so without taking the additional steps necessary to keep state laws affecting civil lawsuits balanced and fair is the much-larger problem.
We can probably all agree that the best legal system is one that favors neither plaintiffs who sue nor defendants. Most everyone also agrees that more lawsuits are not good for a court system already strained and lacking revenues or the taxpayers who help fund it. HB 813 not only would open the door to more lawsuits, but also would tilt current state laws too much toward those who sue.
For example, the bill would still hold those being sued potentially liable for more of the "damages" than they are found to be responsible for. This is just as unfair as not allowing plaintiffs (those doing the suing) to recover damages because they are only partially responsible for what happened.
Most states that have replaced contributory negligence with a comparative fault system have gone further than HB 813 to address the problem of defendants being held accountable for more than their share of fault.
North Carolina's business and health care communities have worked for months in good faith on changes to our state's civil liability system that will keep it balanced for both plaintiffs and defendants, while preserving a legal climate that helps attract, keep and grow good jobs. If North Carolina is going to eliminate contributory negligence and create a comparative fault system in its place, we believe strongly that the new law should incorporate the following three simple principles:
Plaintiffs who are equally or mostly at fault should not recover damages - only those who are less than half at fault should be allowed to pursue them.
Defendants should not be responsible for the damages caused by others.
Juries should know all of the facts to ensure an informed and accurate verdict, including when damages have been recovered from other sources.
House Bill 813 falls short of protecting both plaintiffs and defendants, lacks the balance needed to maintain a strong, fair civil liability system and would make North Carolina a less hospitable state for employers and jobs. This is why the N.C. Chamber and a 56-member coalition comprised of employers, local Chambers of Commerce and other groups oppose the bill in its current form.
As legendary American broadcaster Paul Harvey so often said, this is "the rest of the story."