OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Senate on Thursday passed a lawsuit reform measure that Democrats say will be struck down again as unconstitutional.
Senate Bill 1X requires plaintiffs in negligence cases where an expert would testify to find an authority in advance to certify the case has merit before it can proceed.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court twice tossed out the requirement for medical malpractice cases and professional negligence cases, saying it was an illegal special law and created a barrier to the courthouse.
Senate Minority Leader Sean Burrage, D-Claremore, said the measure again creates separate classes of plaintiffs, which violates the ban against special laws. It also creates a financial barrier to the courthouse, he said.
"We are here for a very small group of people who want to protect themselves from liability," Burrage said.
Gov. Mary Fallin in August called lawmakers into special session following a June Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that previous lawsuit reform legislation was unconstitutional because it violated the single-subject rule of the Oklahoma Constitution. In a separate ruling, the state's high court ruled that requiring an expert to certify a case has merit before it can proceed in professional negligence cases created a financial barrier to accessing the courts and was a special law.
Lawmakers broke apart the larger bill and now are passing the individual sections in separate measures.
Sen. Anthony Sykes, R-Moore, said the state's high court was overreaching when it struck down the measure. He said the new version is less restrictive.
Across the Capitol in the House, Democrats, after arguing for weeks that the special session is a waste of time and money, did all they could to extend it Thursday morning. Despite the Republican majority's attempts to limit discussion and procedural delays, only five bills were dealt with before the noon recess.
Only one of those, a measure protecting volunteers in emergency situations, was not resisted by the Democratic minority.
The most significant measure of the morning dealt with so-called peer review findings in professional malpractice lawsuits. Peer review is a process for evaluating medical professionals. HB 1007x exempts peer review findings from discovery -- the period during a lawsuit when each side is required to provide certain information to the other -- in cases that do not involve the party conducting the peer review.
Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said peer review findings should be treated the same as communications between lawyer and client or between spouses. Rep. Doug Cox, R-Grove, who is a practicing physician, said the provision is a good one.
"What it does do is get bad doctors help," Cox said.
Several Democrats disagreed. Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, said it allows hospitals to "hide" evidence of malpractice, and Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, said it allows negligent doctors to continue practicing.
"Why don't you defrock the ones making mistakes?"
Morrissette told a group of white-coated medical personnel in the House's north galley. "This is a specific bill to protect a specific group."
Morrissette, accompanied on the House floor much of the morning by a rubber chicken, predicted the measure faces a constitutional challenge as a "special bill" -- a bill that singles out a specific person or group of people.
House leadership said bills introduced during the special session do not include new language and seek only to restore the status quo prior to this summer's state Supreme Court ruling.
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma State Medical Association held a press conference to thank state leaders for addressing the issue.
"The 2009 reforms have already paid significant dividends for Oklahoma physicians," said Dr. Carl Hook, president and CEO of PLICO, which provides medical malpractice insurance for most of the doctors in the state. "We've seen premium rates level off and many specialties have seen significant reductions in rates."
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Oklahoma Lottery Commission Executive Director Rollo Redburn on Tuesday sent up a trial balloon for lawmakers.
Parker has served the past seven years on the regents board.
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