A major trucking organization is praising recently passed legislation in two states.
The American Trucking Associations lauded the Indiana General Assembly for passing seatbelt-related legislation, and the Wisconsin legislature for passing a cap on non-economic damages.
The Indiana General Assembly enacted civil justice reform legislation that amends the state’s seatbelt admissibility statute pertaining to automobile accident litigation. The bill, which passed the legislature with bipartisan support and now heads to Gov. Eric Holcomb’s desk, would make evidence of a litigant’s non-usage of a safety belt admissible in court in most cases.
ATA said reforms like these are critical to ensuring fairness and balance in the civil justice system and will deter the exploitation of one-sided rules that incentivize abusive and frivolous litigation in pursuit of profits rather than justice.
The Wisconsin State Legislature passed legislation that would cap non-economic damage awards at $1 million. The industry says capping these subjective, nonmonetary losses is critical to ensuring fairness and balance in civil litigation and will deter abusive and frivolous lawsuits that have perverted the system into a profit center for the plaintiffs’ bar, according to a statement from the ATA.
The legislation passed the State Assembly by voice vote and the State Senate 21-11 and now goes to Gov. Tony Evers for his signature.
