Mark Ballard: Some reform supporters have had enough of trying to lower auto insurance premiums [The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.]

Apr. 10—After a relentless campaign among Republican legislators to lower auto insurance rates by complicating the filing and winning of lawsuits, some lawmakers last week said they've had enough.

"I'm trying to avoid reopening those wars," said state Rep. Greg Miller, the Norco Republican who chairs a House Civil Law and Procedure Committee that Tuesday shot down a tort reform measure. Partly frustrated by the insurance industry's slow response after Hurricane Ida, but mostly by the increase in auto insurance premiums, many legislators seem wary of giving the industry further concessions, he added.

"We expended so much energy on tort reform and in the two years since we've failed to see any benefits," Miller said.

Insurance.com, an industry source that tracks such things, reported in March that its latest statistics show Louisiana rates are 99% more expensive than the national average. "Amongst all the states, Louisiana is the most expensive state with an average auto insurance premium of $2,839 per year, a 19% increase in rates from 2020. On the other hand, Maine, with an average insurance premium of $858 a year, is the state with the cheapest car insurance rates."

The business community and the companies that insure them have long sought ways to reduce exposure to costly judgments on all fronts. They landed on legislation to make going to court unattractive by increasing the difficulty of filing lawsuits and erecting higher hurdles to win, regardless of the claim.

But changing legal complexities is a hard sell, so business and insurance brought in Louisiana's soaring prices for auto insurance to rally public support for tort reform. "It is really an issue that is going to excite Joe Six-Pack to call their legislator and press for tort reform," one insurance industry leader said in explaining the strategy to lawmakers in 2020.

Supporters criticized opponents, often harshly, for trying to block an avenue toward lower auto insurance premiums. The other side countered that those prices were higher because of what's included in Louisiana ratemaking, such as age, gender, and marital status — not public access to the courts.

One bill died in committee going into the 2019 elections. Another was passed and vetoed in 2020. A third, a revamped tort reform package by House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, was signed into law by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

Two years later, auto premiums are higher and members of the Civil Law committee wanted to know why.

Louisiana drivers have twice as many wrecks and twice as many soft tissue injuries, which leads to more litigation and thus higher rates, testified Rodney Braxton, a widely respected lobbyist who represents State Farm, the state's largest auto insurer.

"We can't fix that legislatively," said Rep. Larry Frieman, an Abita Springs Republican who had advocated for tort reform in 2020.

Rep. Beryl Amedée, R-Houma and one of the chamber's most conservative members, also wasn't buying. She asked for statistics that show the ratio of injuries Louisiana drivers suffer when they wreck in other states and what other states' drivers claim when they have accidents in Louisiana.

Sen. Kirk Talbot, the River Ridge Republican who sponsored the earlier bill that was passed then vetoed, understands the fatigue of his colleagues.

"The whole tort reform debate was very emotional, it took the wind out of a lot of things," Talbot said Thursday.

Still, the impact of the legislation hasn't been felt because almost as soon as the law went into effect, the pandemic closed jury trials for months. "We still haven't had the opportunity for this to take effect and sees what's the impact," he said.

"I also would remind them that my bill, which went deep, got vetoed. The one that got passed was what we could get passed, a watered-down version that I didn't think went far enough," Talbot added.

Robert Kleinpeter, a Baton Rouge lawyer who represents wreck victims and other plaintiffs, noted that the business community has been trying since the 1970s to legislatively limit access to the courts.

"It's like in medieval times when they used leeches to promote health. They argued for years and years whether four leeches were enough, were six too many? We look back at medicine from 300 years ago and think how could we have believed that? We're at that point with legislating lower auto insurance rates," Kleinpeter said.

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