In lawsuit reform fight, trial lawyers "want to win at all costs"

Face The State Staff Report

DENVER - Dan Pero, president of the American Justice Partnership, a nationwide coalition advocating for legal reform at the state level, addressed to a group of local lawmakers and business leaders Thursday about the prospects of tort reform in Colorado.

PeroFTS Staff Photo

Pero was invited by the Colorado Civil Justice League, a statewide coalition of business leaders devoted to fighting frivolous litigation, to be the keynote speaker at the group’s annual awards luncheon hosted at the Westin Hotel Wednesday.

In preparation for his visit to Colorado, Pero said he was impressed to find 36 pieces of tort reform legislation that have been passed in the state since 1976. The astounding thing, he said, was that bi-partisan majorities passed all 36 bills, which were also distributed equally under Democrat and Republican governors.

“Proponents of reform recognize the importance it can have on business development,” he said.

But Pero warned that after decades of consistent reform, Colorado’s trial bar is reinvigorated and working with sympathetic Democrat majorities in both houses. Earlier this year, the General Assembly considered a bill that would have raised the cap for non-economic damages, like pain and suffering, in medical malpractice suits. Pero predicts this legislation will be coming back and with new allies.

Colorado’s next Speaker of the House, Rep. Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, is a trial lawyer. He spoke at a CCJL breakfast in November, but did not allude to any similar legislation being introduced next session.

Pero emphasized the harmful impact frivolous lawsuits have on small businesses, saying that most are businesses are just one lawsuit away from closing. “It’s important for Colorado business to have judges who appreciate their role in the constitutional form of government,” he said.

In Michigan, where Pero lives, there is a new anti-tort reform majority on the state’s Supreme Court. Decades of reform that was once upheld in Michigan is now being litigated. Pero attributes the turnover on the court to the progressive agenda being pushed by trial bar associations, and he warned the crowd that no law is ever “settled” because the trial bar is willing to “wait years to strike.”

“They splinter our alliances by cutting deals, they fund campaigns and they aren’t afraid of bad press,” said Pero. “They want to win at all costs because it’s their business.”