If big business gets ‘legal reform,’ Missourians lose constitutional rights in court

When special interests representing coalitions of powerful corporations say “legal reform” or “tort reform,” what they really mean is imposing restrictions on your fundamental constitutional rights under the Seventh Amendment.

Our Founding Fathers led us in the Revolutionary War not only for tea and taxes, but to uphold the rule of law to ensure access to courts and civil justice. Among the list of grievances given in the Declaration of Independence, many of us are generally familiar with “For imposing taxes on us without our consent.” But the very next grievance listed was “For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury.”

The Seventh Amendment is the linchpin for all other constitutional rights. What is your remedy if someone violates your constitutional right to free speech, to religious freedom, to keep and bear arms or to contract for goods and services? These are civil justice issues in which you take the wrongdoer to court in order to protect your rights. What happens when Lady Justice peeks out from behind her blindfold to find her scales tilted in favor of powerful corporations?

In a Feb. 22 guest commentary in The Star, Institute for Legal Reform President Harold Kim wrote that Missouri lawmakers should restrict claims for punitive damages and claims under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. Why?

Punitive damages are meant to punish and deter the very worst wrongdoers only after a victim or the victim’s family has proven with clear and convincing evidence that a defendant both engaged in outrageous conduct, and acted with a “willful, wanton or malicious culpable mental state.”

The Missouri Merchandising Practices Act protects Missouri families against fraud by unscrupulous business. What is the legitimate public policy favoring wrongdoers over the Missouri families they harm? Who or what is pushing for these laws?

The Institute for Legal Reform is a tax-exempt 501(c)(6) “business league” nonprofit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, formed to serve the business needs of its members. It does not publish the names of its donors. In the past, its board members have included representatives from the likes of Koch Industries, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, ExxonMobil, the Dow Chemical Company, JP Morgan Chase & Co., State Farm and other multinational corporations.

When I talk with lawmakers in Jefferson City, I ask them how many of their everyday constituents have called their office asking them to make it more difficult for Missouri families to hold wrongdoers accountable. The answer: none. Who asked Missouri lawmakers for these protections? It’s not just the Institute for Legal Reform. It’s the Doe Run Company (fined $1.2 million last year for illegal lead emissions outside St. Louis) and other special interests looking out for themselves — not Missouri families.

These corporations are working to restrict your rights under the Seventh Amendment and to stack the deck against Missouri families in favor of themselves. Don’t let special interests restrict your constitutional rights. Tell your lawmakers to protect the Seventh Amendment. If special interests are permitted to attack our rights to take wrongdoers to court, it will not be long before others are attacking our other fundamental rights.

This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "If big business gets ‘legal reform,’ Missourians lose constitutional rights in court."