MADISON, Wis. (Legal Newsline) - Wisconsin lawmakers could vote Thursday on changes to the state's rules regarding civil litigation.
The Assembly Committee on the Judiciary voted 6-3 Tuesday to move the bill forward. Assembly Bill 773, according to the Legislature's website, was referred to the Committee on Rules and is sponsored by state Reps. Mark Born and John Nygren.
Business leaders and legal reform organizations were overwhelmingly supportive of the bill as it was originally published in the Assembly and the Senate. They gathered to voice that support at a Jan. 30 meeting of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.
Born
AB 773, the amended version, would make various changes to the state’s discovery rules, decrease the interest rate charged to insurers for unpaid overdue claims and pull back the deadline set by the construction statute of repose.
The statute of repose shields builders and others involved in construction projects from lawsuits alleging negligent design if an injury occurs more than 10 years after those projects have been substantially completed. The original AB 773 proposed reducing that window to six years.
An amended version of the bill would change that to seven years.
Further, Rep. Born proposed an amendment Monday that would change the interest rate charged on overdue insurance claims from the current 12 percent to 7.5 percent. The original version of the bill called for the interest rate to be set at prime rate plus one percentage point.
The amended bill would also repeal a provision of the new class action rule adopted by the state Supreme Court in December. It would replace it with language requiring the Court of Appeals to hear appeals of orders granting or denying class certification if the appeals are filed within 14 days of the orders.
The granting of such an appeal would stay all discovery and other proceedings, although courts could still consider any settlements reached by the parties.
Under the amended bill, all references to regulating third-party litigation financing, called "lawsuit lending" by some, are removed. A number of states, either through the legislature or judiciary, have ruled the practice is usury and therefore regulated under lending laws. Interest rates are therefore controlled.
The amendment also keeps many of the original proposals involving electronically stored information and discovery, including provisions that would limit discovery requests to five years before the start of a cause of action.
Limits to the "frequency or extent of discovery if it determines that the discovery sought is cumulative or duplicative" would be imposed under the bill.
Information should be obtained, if possible, from "some other source that is more convenient, less burdensome, or less expensive."
The American Tort Reform Association told the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety that, from 2006 to 2008, companies paid average discovery costs per case of $600,000 to $3 million.
The association was citing figures from a 2010 paper compiled by three tort reform groups that includes multimillion-dollar litigation involving, and between, major companies.
At the Senate hearing, the Wisconsin Defense Council, a statewide organization of defense attorneys, said the discovery provisions would prevent unnecessary “fishing expeditions.”
Additionally, the bill would require the type and scope of injury of the representative class members be typical of the injury being alleged by the absent class members. It also bans “no-injury” class actions and requires class members be verifiable "by reliable and feasible means."
It would, for instance, place time limits on depositions and restrict how many depositions could be requested in a particular dispute. It would also restrict parties from obtaining electronically stored information unless they could show a “substantial need” for it.
Reps. Ron Tusler and Cody Horlacher previously proposed amendments that gutted the bill. The two are personal injury lawyers.
ATRA told the committee that, from 2006 to 2008, companies paid average discovery costs per case of $600,000 to $3 million.
ATRA was, however, citing figures from a 2010 paper compiled by three tort reform groups and includes multi-million dollar litigation involving, and between, major companies.
At the Senate hearing, the Wisconsin Defense Council, a statewide organization of defense attorneys, said the discovery provisions would prevent unnecessary “fishing expeditions.”