Sen.: Damage fees mar funds

State Sen. Tom Harman had some sharp words for his Democratic colleagues after his proposal to limit punitive damages juries could award in the state was killed in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The bill, SB 423, proposed limiting punitive damages to three times the amount of any compensatory damages awarded to a defendant.

“Let’s say, as an example, I punch you in the nose and you fall down and break your leg, and you have to go to the hospital,” Harman said. “You get your hospital bills, doctor bills, medical bills, time off for work, and you add all those up and you get what you call your compensatory damages.

“If, in this example, you were awarded $3,000, the most you’d be able to ask for in punitive damages was $9,000; someone with $1 million in damages could ask for $3 million,” he said.

Harman said the state economy was burdened by heavy punitive awards whose costs are ultimately passed on to the consumer.

When asked why he thought the bill was destroyed, he pointed to special interests in Sacramento — specifically, the trial lawyer lobby — from whom Harman said Judiciary Committee Democrats take their marching orders.

“This is the sacred cow of the trial lawyers, and they don’t want anybody to touch it or move it — the trial lawyers pretty much blocked this,” he said.

“The committee of the majority party pretty much does what the trial lawyers tell them to do, as they are a very important special interest group up here.”

Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Los Angeles), who serves on the committee and voted against the measure, said she was “insulted” by Harman’s characterization.

“Sen. Harman is an honorable man, but he has never brought forth evidence that punitive damages have been awarded in many cases,” she said. “He simply asserts it, and when I say he doesn’t have sufficient evidence, he says that someone is having undue influence over me.

“I really resent that,” she added. “No one has undue influence over me — no one has influence over me, period.”

Kuehl said her vote was to ensure that punitive damages remain an effective mechanism for curbing “egregious” crimes against society, noting she feared that limiting the relative amount of damages may fail to dissuade those with “deep pockets” from carrying out such malfeasance.

CHRIS CAESAR may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at chris.caesar@latimes.com.