Pain-and-suffering damages related to truck crashes topic of state legislative action

Multiple states in the upper Midwest are looking at whether to revise rules that relate to pain-and-suffering damages in incidents involving large trucks. One state has enacted a rule change.

Illinois

An Illinois Senate subcommittee is expected to soon consider legislation to nix a problem statute for trucking operations.

A year ago, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law a bill to permit juries to grant unlimited noneconomic, or pain-and-suffering, damages in wrongful death lawsuits.

The Wrongful Death Act allows civil litigants to receive punitive (pain-and-suffering) damages. Punitive damages also are permitted for people who survive.

Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, is behind a legislative pursuit to remove the provision in statute that permits unlimited pain-and-suffering damages.

HB4992 would cap noneconomic damages in a civil action against a common carrier at up to $2 million per plaintiff.

Spain wrote in the bill that Illinois is a transportation and logistics hub of interstate commerce in the U.S.

“To preserve Illinois’ ability to maintain this status, it is the intent of this (bill) to preserve the economic health and strength of the industries that help make this possible,” he said.

The House Civil Procedure and Tort Liability subcommittee is scheduled to consider the bill on Thursday, March 21.

As of early Tuesday, March 19, 118 people filed witness slips in favor of the bill. There were five opponents to file witness slips.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association encourages Illinois members to contact their state lawmakers and ask that they support this tort liability bill, HB4992.

Indiana

In neighboring Indiana, a new rule on the books allows seat belt usage to be considered in accident lawsuits.

State law has prohibited the seat belt information from being made available to juries.

Gov. Eric Holcomb signed into law a bill to permit juries in civil lawsuits related to vehicle accidents to hear whether the victim was wearing a seat belt. That information then can be used when considering damages.

A judge still would have the final say whether the information is allowed to be presented.

Supporters said juries should be able to know whether injuries were worse because an adult did not wear a seat belt.

House Roads and Transportation Committee Chair Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, said it is important that the state not stand in the way of juries’ access to information about whether a vehicle occupant was wearing a seat belt.

“It has nothing to do with fault. It has nothing to do with cause. It’s only to be used in damages,” Pressel recently testified.

The American Trucking Associations said reforms like the new Indiana law are critical to ensuring fairness and balance in the civil justice system.

“This is a commonsense measure that only increases transparency and ensures jurors have complete information when rendering a fair and just verdict,” ATA President Chris Spear said in prepared remarks.

Previously HB1090, the law takes effect July 1.

Iowa

An Iowa bill revisiting a year-old rule on pain-and-suffering damages in lawsuits involving commercial vehicles has been put to rest.

State lawmakers acted last year to address “nuclear verdicts” in lawsuits that result from crashes with large trucks.

Nuclear verdicts often are described as where juries award exorbitant amounts for pain-and-suffering claims.

OOIDA welcomed the new rule to cap pain-and-suffering damages in lawsuits from crashes with heavy-duty trucks at $5 million.

While this limits noneconomic damages – including pain and suffering, mental anguish, inconvenience or loss of opportunity – economic damages are not limited. These include compensation for lost wages or medical expenses. Punitive damages, if awarded, also are not limited.

A Senate bill introduced early this year sought to reverse course on the recent changes.

SF2224 covered tort liability in civil actions involving large trucks, including employer liability, noneconomic damages, punitive damages and exemplary damages.

The bill called for doing away with the state’s respondent superior law. Specifically, an employer would be made liable for an employee’s negligence.

The $5 million cap on noneconomic damages that was set a year ago also would have been removed.

Doug Morris, OOIDA director of state government affairs, said the legislation amounted to “nothing more than a money grab by the plaintiff’s bar so they can obtain larger verdicts and settlements in Iowa.”

SF2224 did not receive committee consideration, effectively killing it for the year.

Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, state lawmakers sent to the governor a commonsense truck insurance reform that is touted to counter nuclear verdicts.

SB613 would limit the total amount of noneconomic damages, such as pain-and-suffering, that a person may recover from a trucking company. A $1 million cap on noneconomic damages would apply to incidents with a truck that result in injury, death or other loss.

The bill does not limit direct damages, such as medical expenses.

Rep. Rick Gundrum, R-Slinger, told the panel about a study by the American Transportation Research Institute that showed the average verdict size for a lawsuit above $1 million involving a truck crash has increased nearly 1,000%.

“This has become a rising problem in the transportation industry,” he said.

He also noted that while a plaintiff hurt in an accident with a truck certainly has the right to file a lawsuit, “the problem with the rise in nuclear verdicts is that they are now seriously beginning to damage the trucking industry.”

Supporters have added that nuclear verdicts result in a myriad of problems for trucking operations, such as higher insurance rates. They also worsen supply chain issues.

In written testimony, Sen. Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, testified that the commercial trucking industry has seen an increase in large-scale litigation.

He highlighted a July 2023 report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform that showed despite a decline in fatal crashes by more than one-third over the past two decades, “there has been a significant inflation in the valuation of verdicts and settlements, with the average settlement award reaching $27.5 million.”

Tomczyk said his truck insurance bill addresses a rising problem by placing a reasonable cap on noneconomic damages.

The Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association and OOIDA support the reform legislation.

Speaking at a recent hearing, WMCA President Neal Kedzie told lawmakers the truck insurance legislation is about setting reasonable limits to curb the growing abuse of noneconomic damages.

OOIDA has issued a Call to Action encouraging Wisconsin members to contact the governor and ask that SB613 be signed into law. LL

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