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Small business thanks representatives

TO THE EDITOR:
The stateís largest small business advocacy group, NFIB, would like to thank Rep. Rob Eastlund and Rep. Pete Nelson for their support of legislation to revise the Joint and Several Liability law. The revision of joint and several liability is one of the most critical tort reforms of all and his vote went a long way toward restoring fairness in our system. This revision will change the standard of fault from 16 percent to 51 percent or more for a party to be forced to pay all the damages in personal injury suits or other tort claims
In our view, it is extremely unfair to force someone who is as little as 16 percent at fault to pay an entire award, which in some cases may cause significant financial strain on these parties or even bankrupt them. Thanks to Rep. Eastlundís vote only those who are 51 percent or more at fault will now be forced to pay the whole award.
We also appreciate the fact that he was willing to make the necessary procedural votes to get this bill to the governorís desk. Thanks to his efforts we have taken a big step toward combating lawsuit abuse in our state and have addressed a great inequity in our system of jurisprudence.
Mike Hickey
State Director, NFIB

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