Legal Reform
Sarah Steelman has always been a strong supporter of legal reform. Not only is she a supporter of the “Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act” currently in Congress, but she has a strong record in the State Senate of support for common sense legal reform measures.
Sarah Supports the "Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act"
Sarah has been a supporter of “The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2011 (LARA)”, introduced by Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa. This act "LARA" addresses one of the major problems facing small business today: frivolous lawsuits.
She called for it’s passage last year, stating:
"The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act (LARA) will help reduce frivolous litigation which raises costs for small business owners and prices for consumers. The integrity of the civil justice system must be preserved for all people seeking justice; those who file frivolous lawsuits attack and erode our system of justice and must be sanctioned. At a time when unemployment in this country is above 9 percent, this bill helps restore a healthy economic climate conducive to job growth, by eliminating the threat of costly, meaningless lawsuits.”
Sarah’s Record on Legal Reform in the State Senate
In the Missouri State Senate, Sarah sponsored numerous bills in support of legal reform, and supported or voted in favor of tort reform legislation 15 times:
Legislation Sponsored:
- Sponsored medical malpractice reform bill (SB 727, 2004)
- Co-sponsored legislation with Larry Rohrbach that would prohibit state environmental laws from being stricter than federal environmental laws, lessing the potential for lawsuits against businesses in the state (SB 715, 2002)
- Sponsored legislation exempting sand and gravel mine operators who mine less than 5,000 tons of material from regulation and licensing, lessening the potential for lawsuits against these businesses (SB 360, 2002)
Legislation Supported and Voted For:
- Voted for medical malpractice reform (SCS HCS HB 1305, 5/3/2004)
- Voted to exclude people who test positive for drugs from receiving workers' compensation; this would lessen the reasons people could sue to get workers' compensation benefits (SS SB 2, 4/16/2003)
- Voted to exempt bar owners from lawsuits damages done by drunken customers unless it was shown that the bar owner was reckless in serving them, such as continuing to serve them knowing they were extremely intoxicated (SS SCS SB 433, 4/11/2001; SS HS HB 421, 5/8/2001; SS SB 817, 3/21/2002)
- Voted to ban cities from suing gun manufacturers (SS SB 13, 2/27/2003, 9/11/2003)
- Supported the 2003 tort reform bill (SS SB 280, 3/14/2003, 3/19/2003)
- Voted to impose restrictions and standards on lawsuits against homeowners (SS SCS SB 1081, 4/1/2004; CCR &CCS HS HCS SS SB 1081, 5/11/2004; CCS HS HCS SS SB 1081, 9/15/2004)
- Co-sponsored legislation that would prohibit state environmental laws from being stricter than federal environmental laws, lessening the potential for lawsuits against businesses in the state (SB 715, 2002)
- Sponsored legislation exempting sand and gravel mine operators who mine less than 5,000 tons of material from regulation and licensing, lessening the potential for lawsuits against these businesses (SB 360, 2003)
- Sponsored medical malpractice reform bill (SB 727, 2004)
- Voted to deny unemployment benefits to workers who were fired for misconduct, such as showing up drunk or high on the job; this would lessen the potential for lawsuits against employers (SS#2 SS SCS SB 2, 4/16/2003; SS#2 SCS HS HCS HB 1268 & 1211, 5/12/2004)
- Voted to prohibit lawsuits against the food industry for making people fat (HCS HB 1115, 5/11/2004)