The bills to increase the amount of time that you can be sued are set for a hearing in the House Civil Law Committee on Monday, May 23, 2022 at 10 am. SB 130 by Sen Connick and SB 149 by Sen Talbot would extend the amount of time that you can be sued from the current one year to two years.
The proponents state that most other states currently have a period to sue that is longer than the period in Louisiana, so we should follow suit and extend ours. The trucking industry disagrees. Our state has such a toxic legal environment currently that is far out of line with what other states do. Extending the period to sue us would be a death knell for the trucking industry who is under fire daily from the trial lawyers.
We oppose this increase for several reasons:
- Currently, plaintiffs’ lawyers, particularly in cases involving larger policies (such as commercial motor carrier cases) control the plaintiffs’ treatment. Attorneys have been known to cut communications and refuse to produce medical records prior to the filing of suit.
- During this time, plaintiffs’ lawyers will build up a case without the defendants being aware of the nature of the alleged injuries or having any ability to discover medical records.
- The charges by the physicians used by the plaintiffs’ lawyers are frequently two to three times the normal rates; current law does not allow defendants to challenge the reasonableness of “incurred” bills unless the defendant can prove fraud on the part of the plaintiff.
- During that two-year period, defendants will have no way to compel a medical examination to challenge the validity of the “care.”
