Package of Pro-Business Bills Unveiled by Wilson : Legislature: Proposals would cut damages in personal-injury suits and limit lawsuits by consumers and fired workers.

The Wilson Administration unveiled a broad pro-business package of bills Friday, aimed at restricting personal-injury lawsuits by cutting down on large judgments and by limiting suits over defective products or being fired.

Wilson’s proposals to limit lawsuits in California state courts mirror bills being pushed by Republicans in Congress to restrict personal-injury lawsuits in federal courts. The issue has also gained currency in Texas, where it has been embraced by Republican Gov. George Bush Jr.

In California, aides to Wilson called the overhaul of civil law one of his top three legislative priorities this year, along with tax cuts and rolling back environmental regulations. “We anticipate a big battle and are prepared to enter the fray,” said Patrick Shannon, one of the aides.

The 10-point package includes measures to limit the size of punitive damages, protect manufacturers from product liability suits, restrict lawsuits by shareholders against publicly traded corporations, and prevent the rare suits by people who are hurt while committing crimes.

Wilson also is calling for limits to frivolous lawsuits by having people who file them pay defense costs. The governor also renewed his support for no-fault auto insurance in which accident victims would have no need to hire lawyers except in extreme cases.

The package is a direct attack on one of the Democrats’ wealthiest sources of campaign donations--the California Trial Lawyers Assn.

“This is a convenient steppingstone for Pete Wilson, timed to coincide with the attack on the civil justice system in Washington,” said consumer activist Harvey Rosenfeld, an ally of the trial lawyers. Rosenfeld charged that the package is designed to cripple trial lawyers and “get rid of lawyers as a political force” on behalf of Democrats.

“The only ones who want changes are corporate defendants who are often sued--Pete Wilson’s campaign donors who want to close the courts to the middle class,” Rosenfeld said.

A bill almost certain to be met by fierce opposition would impose caps on punitive damages, the portion of civil judgments that occasionally result in huge awards. Wilson also proposes that judges, rather than juries, decide the level of punitive damages.

Among the other bills, Wilson is calling for:

* New powers to force parties to settle their disputes out of court.

* Restricting lawsuits over defective products if manufacturers are unaware of a product’s danger and make the product in accordance with the best scientific information at the time.

If the law had been in effect in the 1970s and 1980s, it might have barred some suits over disease stemming from asbestos inhalation, or the once widely prescribed anti-morning sickness drug, DES, which was linked to cancer in the daughters of women who took it.

* Reducing damages that can be collected by people who are illegally fired. Under Wilson’s proposal, wrongly fired workers could collect a year’s future pay plus back wages, rather than the current formula in which they may receive back pay plus future pay for several years.

* Prohibiting suits by employees if they quit because of intolerable conditions such as harassment, but have not given their employers a chance to fix the situation before quitting.