The state’s largest small business advocacy group, National Federation of Independent Business, would like to thank Rep. Doug Magnus for his support of legislation to revise the Joint and Several Liability law. The revision of joint and several liability is one of the most critical tort reforms of all and his vote went a long way toward restoring fairness in our system. This revision will change the standard of fault from 16 percent to 51 percent or more for a party to be forced to pay all the damages in personal injury suits or other tort claims. In our view, it is extremely unfair to force someone who is as little as 16 percent at fault to pay an entire award, which in some cases may cause significant financial strain on these parties or even bankrupt them. Thanks to Rep. Magnus’s vote only those who are 51 percent or more at fault will now be forced to pay the whole award. We also appreciate the fact that he was willing to make the necessary procedural votes to get this bill to the governor’s desk. Thanks to his efforts we have taken a big step toward combating lawsuit abuse in our state and have addressed a great inequity in our system of jurisprudence.Mike HickeySt. PaulState Director
