Legislative Wrap-up The 2003 Session in Annapolis by Wayne M. Willoughby, MTLA Legislative Chair
Wayne M. Willoughby (Janet, Willoughby, Gershon, Getz & Jenner, LLC, Baltimore) received his undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland and his J.D. cum laude from the University of Baltimore School of Law. Mr. Willoughby served as Chair of the Medical Negligence Section of the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association in 2002 and is an Eagle Member of the MTLA President’s Club. He is also chair of the MTLA Legislative Committee. The Governor of the State of Maryland appointed Mr. Willoughby to serve on the Maryland State Advisory Council on Medical Privacy and Confidentiality.
The MTLA plays a highly important, and sometimes decisive role in Annapo- lis. MTLA stands up to the moneyed interests seeking to limit the rights of the injured and to insulate wrongdoers from responsibility for negligent conduct. Once again, in 2003, MTLA fought the good fight and testified on over 50 bills and monitored scores of other measures. On the “tort deform” front, MTLA worked to defeat, in committee, a Senate Joint Resolution (SJ 8), calling upon the Maryland Congressional delegation to pass national tort “deform” measures; a House bill (HB 832) which would have required all verdicts for future damages to be paid out periodically over time upon the defendant’s request; a House bill (HB 676), to shorten the statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims against children; a cross-filed bill (HB 608, SB
510), to provide civil immunity to design professionals for injuries to third parties under most circumstances; and, a House bill (HB 1170), which would have elimi- nated the right to trial by jury for damage claims in certain lawsuits against insur- ance companies. For the victims of automobile negli- gence, MTLA successfully worked to defeat “No Pay/No Play”, (HB 742, SB 443), a cross-filed bill designed to deny a full and fair recovery to uninsured mo- torists injured by the negligence of others. In past years, this perennial favorite of the insurance lobby had passed the House of Delegates.
This year, with the help of
MTLA, it was killed convincingly in com- mittee. For Workers’ Compensation recipi- ents, MTLA worked successfully for the passage of a bill (HB 690), extending
death benefits for wholly dependent spouses when no other dependents exist, and defeating a proposed amendment that would have eliminated death benefits upon remarriage. Moreover, MTLA worked to defeat in committee a bill (HB 426), that would have stripped away the power of the Workers’ Compensation Commission to set attorney’s fees and in- vested that power in the legislature. For the victims of child sex abuse, MTLA suc- cessfully worked for the passage of a bill (SB 68), extending the statute of limita- tions for civil child sexual abuse actions to 7 years after the date the victims at- tains the age of majority. Despite MTLA’s best efforts, not all of our actions were fruitful. For the first time ever, with the active support of the MTLA, a bill designed to eliminate the family exclusion clause in automobile policies passed the Maryland Senate (SB 517). The bill then passed the assigned House Committee by a wide margin. Under intense pressure from the insurance lobby, however, the bill died because it was not allowed to be scheduled for a full vote of the House. MTLA also supported bills (HB 703 and SB 615), to bring additur to Mary- land; to allow punitive damages against drunk drivers (SB 454); and, to assure that the most grievously injured victims of neg- ligence have an absolute right to be present at trial (HB 340 and SB 149). Unfortu- nately, these bills did not pass this year. Great thanks for this year’s accomplish-
ments are due to MTLA’s lobbyists, Daniel Doherty and Mindy Binderman. In addition, the membership of MTLA owes a debt of gratitude to the many MTLA members who gave of their time and effort to meet with legislators, line up lay witnesses and testify in Annapolis. These MTLA members include Robert Zarbin (Legislative Committee Vice- Chair); Matt Paavola (Workers’ Compensation Legislative Sub-Commit- tee Chair); Alison Kohler (Medical Malpractice Legislative Sub-Committee Chair); Peter Holland; Joanne Suder; James MacAlister; Jeffrey Weinberg, and others.
22 Trial Reporter Summer 2003
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