Selected
Article:
Interview with Governor Haley Barbour
by
Scott Coopwood
DBJ Publisher
Early last week, the DBJ conducted an interview with Governor
Haley Barbour concerning tort reform. The following is a
portion of that interview.
DBJ: Governor Barbour, here in the Delta’s
business community and in our press, there continues to
be much talk about tort reform and how badly the state and
especially the Delta needs it. With the Legislature taking
action to help the Batesville concern, Crown Cork and Seal
Company, that action has sparked the interest of many business
owners here. What were the circumstances concerning this
situation?
Governor Barbour: Crown, Cork and Seal
is a Philadelphia, PA based company that employs 250 people
in their facility in Batesville and I’m very happy
that they are in Mississippi. Crown, Cork and Seal has been
a victim of lawsuit abuse. The House passed a bill that
gives Crown, Cork and Seal tort reform to protect them from
lawsuits and they deserve protection. The point to me here
is that why just Crown, Cork and Seal? Why not give the
same protection to other Mississippi businesses that deserve
protection? Some in the House have said that the Crown,
Cork and Seal tort reform bill was really economic development
to protect jobs. There are 1,200,000 jobs in Mississippi
that need protection from lawsuit abuse, not just 250 in
Panola County. So, when I signed the bill I called on the
Legislature to give the same kind of protection to other
businesses in Mississippi, in fact to all businesses in
Mississippi. Just as Crown, Cork, and Seal deserved it,
so do the other businesses in our state. I know the Senate,
which has passed a comprehensive tort reform bill, made
the same statements when they were considering the Crown,
Cork and Seal situation, that they were willing to do this
- but they wanted the House to know that they (Senate) think
that we need to do this for everyone, not just one company.
DBJ: Where are we with tort reform right
now in the Legislature?
Governor Barbour: The majority of Mississippians
want comprehensive tort reform and know that we need it.
I’ve proposed comprehensive tort reform to end lawsuit
abuse in Mississippi and the Senate passed it for a more
than 2 - 1 margin. Yet, with a short time left in the session,
the House has never been allowed to vote on any tort reform
bill. The Senate bill which I support, was never allowed
to be voted on, or even considered by the full House. The
Senate took a House bill that had passed and added some
tort reform provisions and sent it back to the House, however
that bill has not been considered by the whole House. In
an effect to bring this to closure, I offered a compromise
which was not accepted. So, I am committed to comprehensive
tort reform and I hope that we’ll get this in the
regular session.
DBJ: If the House doesn’t take any
action on this, will you call a special session of the Legislature?
Governor Barbour: I have not given up on
this session. But, if it is not achieved in the regular
session, I am committed to call a special session or special
sessions until we get comprehensive tort reform passed so
we can end lawsuit abuse in Mississippi and put this issue
behind us.
DBJ: So far the press has talked more about
how doctors and the state’s healthcare industry have
been hit hard by lawsuits. What about the other industries
that are affected by lawsuits?
Governor Barbour: That’s right and
the average person is very aware of the damage that lawsuit
abuse has done to healthcare. Lawsuits have hurt the quality
of healthcare, lawsuit abuse has reduced accessibility of
healthcare, and lawsuit abuse has driven up the cost of
healthcare. Many don’t think about the fact that this
is a job creation issue. People are not going to bring their
businesses here or expand their businesses if they are not
sure that their families and employees can get quality healthcare.
We tend to think about healthcare as hurting doctors and
nurses and hospitals and this is true. But lawsuit abuse
hurting healthcare also creates an obstacle in job creation.
Beyond that, lawsuit abuse is driving up the cost of doing
business in Mississippi to intolerable levels.
DBJ: At one time, Alabama was considered
the Capital of lawsuit abuse, however that state took steps
to remedy this and that action has helped Alabama begin
to again attract large manufacturing concerns. How do manufacturing
prospects view Mississippi at this point? Governor
Barbour: That is a great question. Let me read
to you the content of some of the letters that I have received
recently from some large corporations who are concerned
with lawsuit abuse in Mississippi. “While Mississippi
is desirable for many of the other characteristics I’ve
listed (DBJ: mentioned in the first paragraph in the letter
to Barbour), the litigation climate in Mississippi is unfavorable
and negatively impacts the State’s business climate.
In fact, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ranks Mississippi
as having the worst legal system in the country. Business
climate issues such as a State’s civil justice system
are important issues in site selection.” Letter from
Dennis Cuneo, senior vice president of Toyota Motor North
America. “Tort reform is a vital issue that must be
addressed if companies like KCS (Kansas City Southern railroad
line) are to be able to continue operating profitable into
the future. We hope you will be mindful of he very significant
impact this issue has had on KCS and the threat it poses
to us in the future.” Letter from Warren K. Erdman,
vice president corporate affairs for Kansas City Southern.
“Caterpillar has made significant investments in Mississippi’s
economic future. As you know, we operate facilities in Corinth,
Oxford, Booneville and Olive Branch providing good jobs
for well over 1,000 Mississippians. We are proud to include
Mississippi as a state in which our products are made and
our employees live and work. Unfortunately, Mississippi’s
current lawsuit environment makes us very reluctant to consider
expanding our activities in the state.” Letter from
James W. Owens, chairman and chief executive officer, Caterpillar.
DBJ: Often we think of the large manufacturers
who are concerned with lawsuit abuse, however small businesses
are perhaps more affected by this abuse and as we all know,
the majority of employers in the state are small businesses.
Governor Barbour: One thing that people
have to remember is that while big business wants tort reform,
they can pass along the costs of lawsuit abuse generally.
Small businesses are who get crushed by lawsuit abuse. Small
businesses have no way to pass along those lawsuit abuse
costs, small businesses get put out of business when they
get sued. As I have said before, every small business in
Mississippi is one step away from bankruptcy when it comes
to lawsuits. So, I hope that as the session ends, that the
people who are affected by lawsuit abuse will make sure
their members know that they want tort reform to be achieved
before the regular session is over. This shouldn’t
be something that must be achieved in a special session.
But that is what I’ll do if this is what it takes.
DBJ
