The president of the Oklahoma Bar Association blasted legislative proposals to change the state’s civil justice system, charging that the measures are an assault on the judiciary and would harm average Oklahomans.
Guymon attorney Jon Parsley said supporters of sweeping legislation that would change the way Oklahomans file and litigate lawsuits are using “untruths and partisan politics” to make the case that the state is facing a lawsuit crisis that is driving up insurance costs.
“I call upon the Legislature to produce facts – not myths or urban legends – but proof of the necessity of the measures that have been introduced,” Parsley said. “Some of the supporters of this legislation know that Oklahoma does not have a tort crisis.”
A survey of Oklahoma trial judges conducted in 2006 found that 90 percent of judges believed there was no litigation crisis requiring legislative changes, he said. The same survey found that there was no severe problem with frivolous lawsuits.
“Like they say where I’m from: ‘That dog don’t hunt,”‘ Parsley said.
A leading supporter of the civil justice bills, Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, accused the OBA of improperly lobbying against the civil justice issue and said Parsley was presenting misinformation and false claims to the public.
“I think the Bar is taking a political position,” said Coffee, himself an attorney and a member of the OBA. “Mr. Parsley is showing his partisan side. Their focus is greed and lining their own pockets.”
More than 100 attorneys crowded into the state Capitol in an annual OBA event and dozens crowded around Coffee’s office in an effort to meet with him and express their concerns. They moved to the gallery of the state Senate when the Senate convened.
Coffee later indicated he is not opposed to a face-to-face meeting with OBA leaders to discuss the civil justice issue.
“I’ve offered to meet with the president and the board anytime,” Coffee said.
The Oklahoma House voted largely along party lines two weeks ago for legislation that supporters said was needed to help stop frivolous lawsuits and lower the price companies and doctors pay for liability insurance. The bill is pending in the Senate.
Among other things, the measure would cap non-economic damages, also known as pain and suffering, at $300,000, require a certificate from an expert that a lawsuit has merit before it can proceed in state court and change class-action lawsuit guidelines by requiring litigants to “opt in” to a lawsuit rather than “opt out.”
Another measure passed by the House last month would asks voters to approve a constitutional amendment to cap contingency fees charged by trial attorneys at 33 percent of the first $1 million in damages and 20 percent for higher awards.
Parsley said the OBA opposes the legislation as well as another bill that would require Senate confirmation of judges nominated to Oklahoma’s workers’ compensation system. Currently, judges are appointed by the governor from a list submitted by the Judicial Nominating Commission.
“It appears as though they’re trying to interject politics into the selection of judges,” Parsley said.
Parsley said the changes proposed in the civil justice system “would hamper the rights of ordinary citizens to have their day in court.
“The Oklahoma Bar Association stands ready to work toward real solutions to real problems, but will not stand idly by while the rights of Oklahoma citizens are taken away based on unsubstantiated political rhetoric,” he said.
Parsley said an OBA task force that studied the civil justice legislation believes it is unconstitutional. A 2003 law required certificates of merit in medical malpractice cases, but it was struck down in 2006 by the state Supreme Court, which labeled the requirement an unconstitutional special law.
The task force said the proposal to cap contingency fees for trial attorneys “is purely political” and “does not serve or protect the public in any way.”
It said a separate proposal to make voluntary the payment of the Bar’s $275 annual dues “is an unconstitutional legislative encroachment upon the inherent powers of the Supreme Court in violation of the separation of powers doctrine.” That measure died in the Senate.
“The high drama of lawyer bashing is a great sport for some,” Parsley said. “It is time it ends and the real needs of real people take center stage.”
Topics Lawsuits Legislation Oklahoma
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