Get ready!
Tomorrow, the Virginia General Assembly convenes for what may be a 30 day legislative session possibly followed by a special session to take care of unfinished business. You have probably already seen a legislative alert from me asking you to call your state senator to oppose a proposal – SB 1107 – which would get rid of the medical malpractice cap. The cap with annual increases was instituted in 2010-11 in response to massive increases in med mal premiums and the availability of med mal insurance becoming more and more limited. Virginia’s cap brought some stability to the market to the benefit of everyone except a trial lawyer who had a significant “reward” reduced in conformity with the cap.
I don’t know about the case. Likely someone was harmed and the jury returned a significant settlement —the amount I do not know. I can certainly sympathize with the injured. However, runaway jury awards don’t help anyone and certainly not if doctors find themselves without any insurance whatsoever. What business, industry or profession can survive without insurance? People sometimes forget, insurance companies don’t have to cover exposures it they don’t want to.
Well that’s one of many more to come. We’re presently reviewing about six bills that will be dropped by the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association. We’re of course reviewing the bills as they’re being dropped, but it has been going slowly as I’m writing this article. The Bureau of Insurance is seeking patrons for about five pieces of legislation — none of which has an impact on our membership — though one I ran by our general counsel Doug Palais to make sure it was ok.
But a 30 day session — I’ve never experienced that before — causes me some concern as that’s a massively fast turn-around when a lot of legislation is introduced ... especially in a virtual setting. So bear with me for the coming session, I’ll likely lose my sense of humor. We have already reached out to numerous legislators, one of whom sent us an advance copy of a data protection proposal that I believe is sponsored by Amazon. After a review it appears that it will not apply to insurance companies or agents but I have to confess, the senator sent me the bill to review right before a football game and a 20-page bill was not what I was expecting ... especially when they said, “please let us know what you think of this within two days.”
So let me thank you in advance. As you respond to our legislative alerts and send that comments you have on legislation, it’s very much appreciated. We'll keep you informed and get through this legislative session together.
Robert N. Bradshaw, Jr., MAM
IIAV President & CEO
Independent Insurance Agents of Virginia