Lawsuit reform and car insurance rate arguments are set to dominate the upcoming session, and a new group has been formed to push back against leading Republican proposals for TORT reform.
Real Reform Louisiana Executive Director Eric Holl, a former Governor Edwards campaign staffer, opposes the Republican-crafted omnibus TORT reform bill he says is a giveaway to big business.
“Which would do a lot to help them make more money, but isn’t actually auto insurance reform. It’s just going to make it harder for people who are victims of real negligence to get the compensation they need to go on living their lives and getting back to work,” says Holl.
HB 9 is being brought by Chalmette Representative Ray Garofalo, who believes the legislation will lower auto rates in two to three years.
Holl says a nearly identical bill was brought in the last session and number crunchers from the insurance industry showed it would not lower insurance rates.
“They took a look at that bill and broke down all of the components and wrote a report that was not widely published at the time, understandably, because it showed nothing in that bill would lower auto insurance rates,” says Holl.
Instead of lowering jury trial thresholds, Holl recommends focusing on insurance policy that discriminates against the working class in favor of the rich.
“If you are someone with an excellent credit score, but has a DWI conviction, you can pay about 1,000 dollars less a year for insurance than someone with a poor credit score but a perfect driving record,” says Holl.
Proponents of HB9 argue reducing the number of jury trials will save insurance companies money that they will then pass down to customers.
