Senate Clears Bill for Tort Reform

The Republican-led state Senate has cleared a bill to change legal protections when multiple parties are at fault in a lawsuit.

Senators voted 24-9 Monday to change comparative fault provisions, with several Democrats in favor.

Currently, if a party can’t pay its share of damages and another party was deemed more than 30 percent responsible, the second entity may be required to cover all remaining damages.

The Senate bill would still require other entities to pay for some damages the insolvent party can’t cover. The amount would depend on how much the entity was deemed at fault.

The bill differs from one passed by the House of Delegates.

The House bill would require parties to pay only the percentage they are deemed at fault by a jury, in most cases.