Republicans Suffer Setback on Bill to Limit Suits

In a setback for the Senate Republican leadership, a motion to shut off debate on a bill limiting lawsuits fell 13 short of the needed 60 votes Thursday, forcing Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) to consider paring down legislation that he had tried to expand.

In a showdown vote, nine Republicans joined 43 Democrats to block the bill, 52 to 47. The Republican setback came just hours after President Clinton had vowed to veto the bill if it included limits on punitive damages.

Thursday’s vote leaves the legislation in limbo. Senate aides said they expect Dole and Sen. John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), a sponsor of the original product liability bill, to negotiate a stripped-down version.

Most likely to be jettisoned are two controversial amendments involving medical malpractice and punitive damages, lobbyists said.

The bill before the Senate would limit medical malpractice awards to the amount not paid by insurance companies and would require that hospitals pay only their share of liability, even if other defendants are unable to pay.

The other amendment would restrict punitive damage awards to twice the amount of compensatory damages. The Senate is scheduled to vote again Monday.

“It’s obvious we are a long way off from closing debate and passing a product liability bill,” said Sen. Arlen Specter, a moderate Pennsylvania Republican who voted to block the bill Thursday. He added, however, that he would vote for “carefully crafted” limits on product liability lawsuits.

The Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have made legal reform a top priority, and a broad bill restricting lawsuits swept to easy passage in the House. But on the Senate side, Republicans are having to deal with the rules they used so skillfully last year to block the wishes of the then-Democratic majority.

“Chalk one up for the defenders of the civil justice system,” Public Citizen’s Joan Claybrook said after Dole’s failure to shut off debate. She denounced the bill for “shielding all civil defendants, regardless of whether they’re rapists or neo-Nazis.”

Earlier, the President criticized the legislation for putting “damage caps on lawsuits involving drunk drivers, murderers, rapists and abusers of women and children.” The Senate “should reserve its compassion for the people who deserve it,” he said.

Despite Clinton’s list of beneficiaries, large punitive damages are rarely assessed against individuals such as drunk drivers or murderers. A lawyer for a consumer group fighting the limits on punitive damages said that he could not cite any examples of a punitive damage award against a drunk driver.

He noted, however, that there have been punitive verdicts against taverns that have served drinks to patrons later involved in injury or fatality accidents.

Business groups are hoping to preserve limits on punitive awards against small businesses with fewer than 25 employees, such as restaurants. On Wednesday, the Senate voted by voice vote to limit punitive verdicts against those businesses to $250,000.

But on 51-49 vote Wednesday, the Senate approved the Dole amendment that would limit all punitive verdicts to twice the amount of compensatory damages.

Early in the week, Rockefeller predicted that the bill would fail if GOP leaders added provisions on medical malpractice and punitive damages. Business lawyers and some city officials have said that a limit on punitive damages would end a legal lottery in which a lawsuit over a $5,000 claim can turn into a $2-million award in the hands of an angry jury.

But consumer advocates and trial lawyers have countered that punitive damages--or even the threat of a huge punitive award--protect ordinary Americans from deceit and negligence by powerful corporations.