Assembly Democrats remove harmful liability-expansion item from biennial budget

In their preparations for debate on the 2009-2011 state biennial budget bill, Assembly Democrats voted in closed caucus yesterday afternoon to remove the troublesome joint and several liability-expansion provision from the biennial budget.

An amendment to officially remove the provision will come when the full Assembly votes on the budget Thursday. Rep. Louis Molepske Jr. (D-Stevens Point) and Rep. Mary Hubler (D-Rice Lake) sponsored the motion to remove the provision, which was approved in a show of hands in the caucus.

The Society was one of the first organizations to publicly laud the decision yesterday, with Society President Robert Jaeger, MD, releasing this statement praising the Assembly and asking State Senate members to follow suit when that house receives the budget bill, which will probably happen next week. Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s coverage of the Assembly Democrats’ action here.

Under the governor’s original proposal, defendants found to be as little as 1 percent responsible for a plaintiff’s harm could be responsible for 100 percent of a damages award. This was a dramatic change from the current 51 percent attachment level.

The Joint Committee on Finance changed that threshold level to 20 percent, which still would have put Wisconsin’s joint and several liability environment in a precarious position compared with other states in the Upper Midwest.

The Society will continue to work with the Legislature to ensure the provision is not put back into the budget. If the bill reaching the governor’s desk does not contain the joint and several provision, he will not be able to use his veto power to reinsert it.

For more information, contact Mark Grapentine, JD.