Issue Position: Reforming Missouri's Courts

Issue Position

The threat of baseless lawsuits or unjust multi-million dollar judgments hinders every Missourian from achieving their potential. Businesspeople and farmers across Missouri budget, plan and save to keep doors open and mouths fed, but all it takes is one trial lawyer willing to file a nonsense lawsuit and years of work can end up flushed down the drain. Doctors, especially those in high-risk specialties like surgery or OB/GYN, say the cost of malpractice insurance is a key reason why record numbers are leaving the profession. We need courts that are places of justice, not lotteries and casinos for trial lawyers.

Action Plan:
*Promote a system of direct appointment of judges instead of our current system that gives lawyers more of a voice than the ordinary citizens, ending the conflict of interest that sees judges presiding over cases argued by the lawyers who put them in office, and lawyers pushing judges onto the bench who they know will take their side;

*Impose financial penalties on those who bring frivolous lawsuits against hardworking Missourians, so that people who press meritless lawsuits can be put on the hook for part of their opponents' legal fees;
Institute medical malpractice damages caps to protect the doctors who keep us healthy and serve our communities;

*Require punitive damages to be proportionate to actual damages--the legal system should be a means of seeking compensation for harm suffered, not a lottery ticket for plaintiffs and their lawyers;

*Work to make sure that all hearings on dispositive motions in court are held on the record, and not in secret behind closed doors in judges' chambers, so that judges will be required to explain the basis of their rulings.

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