Believe it or not, bills for the 2025 General Assembly are already being pre-filed; stay tuned for details on issues VTLA will be supporting, opposing and watching. In the meantime, we feel it’s important that we say thanks to the steady hand of Virginia’s leaders who constantly strive to improve life for our citizens while balancing the interests of Virginia businesses.
Virginia is fortunate to have a long history in both chambers and both parties who understand the importance of ensuring access to justice and safeguarding the right to trial by jury. Take a quick (and frightening) look at what our friends in other states are facing right now.
- In Nevada, Uber is funding a ballot initiative to cap attorney’s contingency fees at 20 percent. Uber has pumped a reported $5 million into a political action committee, Nevadans for Fair Recovery, that the company created. The company says the goal isn’t to limit lawsuits; it’s to hold plaintiff’s counsel to what they call reasonable fees.
- In Idaho, Missouri and Iowa, Bayer (and others), after facing defeat in those states this year, are returning and adding other states to their list in seeking immunity from their lethal pesticides. The battle cost state trial lawyer associations massive effort and dollars. In addition, those companies are also seeking nationwide immunity by lobbying Congress to include Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preemption language in moving pieces of legislation. This language would undermine current and future cases seeking to hold pesticide companies accountable.
- The trucking industry has their sights on trial lawyers as the reason for higher insurance rates and are seeking stark limits on recovery in a number of states. In Iowa, a cap was passed, but their trial lawyer association was successful in significantly amending the proposed flat $750,000 cap. (By the way, AAJ has recently done significant research into insurance rate making and found that there is no data to support the skyrocketing auto insurance rates.)
- Third party litigation is another area of concern in numerous states. This legislation (or court rules) would require plaintiffs to disclose any litigation funding, including the contracts with those funders.
- There is also an effort under way to revive the innocent seller defense in product liability cases, restricting recovery from resellers of defective products.
- Proposals to restrict lawyer advertising are also being considered.
These are just some of the battles our larger community is facing, making the case for your continued support of our advocacy work, both at the state and national level. If you are interested in any more details on these efforts, please feel free to contact us!
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