Tort reform law will restrict venue to county of incident
Michelle T. JohnsonContributing Writer
Lawyers and business advocates aren't sure how a more restrictive venue law will affect lawsuits in Missouri, but they are sure of one thing -- the change will be significant.
The new rule, which limits filing tort lawsuits to the county in which the incident occurred, will go into effect Aug. 28 as part of tort reform legislation signed by Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt in March.
The venue rule hasn't received as much attention as other parts of the bill, but lawyers and business advocates said it will have wide-ranging effects.
The change will prevent plaintiff lawyers from moving cases to "notoriously pro-plaintiff" venues such as St. Louis and Kansas City, said Dan Mehan, president and CEO of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Greg Steinhoff, director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, said he thinks the new law will spur economic development in the state. He said jury awards are lower in states that have more restrictive venue choices, which reduces the overall cost of litigation and could affect where companies choose to develop their businesses.
J. Kent Emison, president of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, disagrees. He said there are no studies to indicate that companies will make relocation decisions based on venue laws.
Emison said the change will be more costly for those involved in litigation.
"No state in the country has anything more restrictive than we have," he said.
Denise Henning, a lawyer with Henning & Bough PC, said the inconvenience of the rule will be felt by plaintiffs and defendants because of the cost of traveling to more remote parts of the state to litigate.
Additionally, Henning said, the new rule will place a burden on the court systems throughout the state. Some counties are so sparsely populated that they have to share a judge with other counties. The new law eliminates the existing court rule that allows for discretionary transfers of cases in counties of 75,000 people or fewer.
"It's not fair, and it doesn't reflect the fact that people do business all over the state," Henning said.
She said lawyers representing plaintiffs throughout the state will be very busy in the next few weeks.
"We're all scrambling to file every lawsuit we have before Aug. 28," she said.
Michelle T. Johnson | Johnson is a freelance writer in the Kansas City area.
© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.
