3 Initiatives Designed to Restrict Lawsuits Qualify for Ballot

Three lawsuit-limiting initiatives, including no-fault auto insurance, will be on the March ballot in California.

The three measures sponsored by a group called the Alliance to Revitalize California were certified Friday by Secretary of State Bill Jones.

“The epidemic of abusive, unnecessary and just plain silly lawsuits gripping California hurts businesses that lose profits and workers who lose jobs,” said Thomas Proulx, chairman of the alliance and a former executive of the Intuit software firm.

The no-fault initiative would create a car insurance system in which each driver’s insurer would pay his or her expenses, regardless of who caused the accident. It would abolish lawsuits over vehicle deaths or injuries.

The second initiative would require the losing party to pay the winning party’s attorney fees and expenses in shareholder lawsuits against firms and class action cases based on security law violations.

The third measure would limit the contingency fees that attorneys could collect in personal injury, wrongful death and other tort cases.

Wayne McClean, president of Consumer Attorneys of California, said voters would reject the initiatives. He noted that the electorate in 1988 defeated no-fault and attorney fee-limiting initiatives that were sponsored by the insurance industry. “In 1988, California voters turned down no-fault by a margin of 3 to 1,” McClean said. “This proposal is worse than the 1988 version and unlike 1988 gives no guarantee of a reduction in insurance rates.”