Indiana News

Losers of civil lawsuits in Indiana would have to pay the attorneys’ fees racked up by the winners under a measure that is part of Republican Gov.-elect Mike Pence’s legislative agenda this year.

Gov.-elect Mike Pence will include tort reform in his first-year legislative agenda, which is slowly taking shape.

Indiana’s high court has ruled that the state’s fund established to cover excess damages in medical malpractice cases may not dispute the existence or cause of a plaintiff’s injury in a case in which the medical providers previously settled the claim, admitting liability.

The owner of the stage that collapsed at Indiana’s State Fair last year and killed seven people rejected a settlement plan Wednesday that would have protected the state from further legal action.

Victims of the deadly stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair faced a Wednesday deadline to make claims against a $13.2 million settlement offer from the state and two private companies, but it could be weeks before they learn their share of the money and even whether the deal will go forward.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced two settlements on Friday worth $320,000 to his state with Walgreen Co. resolving allegations of ineligible Medicaid claims and other reimbursement matters.

Comparative negligence combined with joint and several liability resulted in a variety of absurd cases where the deep pocket with 1% responsibility paid for the negligence or intentional torts of others, so many states, Indiana among them, limited joint and several liability for the minimally responsible.

Indiana is a state where tort reform has worked well. Lifting the $5 million liability cap following the Aug. 13 Indiana State Fair stage collapse would jeopardize that reform.  So far, state Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, has suggested raising the state's liability cap to $415 million. Republican leaders have said that would help trial lawyers, not the victims.