In perhaps the only major rift that has developed between legislative Republicans and GOP Gov. Jeff Landry in their first year in this term of office, party lawmakers have turned up the heat on Landry over tort reform that influences vehicle insurance rates.
Backed by a good deal of trial lawyer money, Landry has appeared lukewarm on the issue of reform away from a legal structure weighed in favor of plaintiffs and the legal community that backs them. His most defiant move came in vetoing HB 423 by Republican state Rep. Mike Melerine this past session. That bill would have limited payouts by defendants to the actual amount of costs, plus up to 30 percent of the difference between the amount billed and the amount paid to plaintiff’s medical providers calculated from actual billing for insurance premiums and attorney fees, unless the defendant proves it to be unreasonable. Present law authorizes a flat 40 percent.
That bill actually represented a compromise. GOP state Sen. Alan Seabaugh had one which wasn’t heard that did away with paying out any difference at all, something neighboring Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas do, which is termed the collateral source rule. In his veto message of HB 423, Landry defended its presence on what he called its fairness in reimbursing foresight and advocacy, although the note didn’t address whether the current law created a fair framework for determining that amount possibly improved by the bill.