Efforts to revamp the nation's civil justice system, commonly called tort reform, are making headway in legislatures across the U.S.

In recent weeks, the governors of Missouri and South Carolina have signed tort reform legislation, and earlier this year the governor of Georgia signed a medical malpractice bill that contains general tort reforms.

The tort reform legislation signed by Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt is generally being viewed as a fair-and-balanced solution to that state's growing liability problems.

The statute, House Bill 393, does the following:
· Limits punitive damages to $250,000, or three times the net amount of the judgment awarded the plaintiff against the defendant, whichever is greater.
· Lowers the cap on non-economic damages that can be recovered against health-care providers to $350,000 (not adjusted for inflation), irrespective of the number of defendants.
· Strengthens venue rules for in-state and out-of-state lawsuits for plaintiffs and defendants, both corporate and individual.
· Eliminates joint and several liability, and specifies that the liability of each defendant who is found to be 50 percent or less at fault is subject only to that percentage of the judgment.
· Specifies that interest calculations for pre- and post-judgment claims are to be based on the federal funds rate, plus a specific percentage, depending on the case.

In South Carolina, Gov. Mark Sanford signed House Bill 3008, a business tort reform measure that the governor says will substantially upgrade the state civil justice system, making South Carolina more competitive.

Home to the 11th worst civil justice system in the U.S., South Carolina has seen jobs and investment go elsewhere as a result of its unfriendly tort system.
Sanford said it was especially critically to get tort reform adopted this year because Georgia and other states have upgraded their laws over the past 20 months.

Meanwhile, Georgia's Republican governor, Sonny Perdue, signed Senate Bill 3 into law. Although the measure is primarily a medical malpractice bill, it also eliminates joint and several liability in all tort cases; encourages out-of-court settlements by requiring one party to pay the other side's attorney's fees if presented with a reasonable settlement offer, but rejects it, and allows juries to determine if a lawsuit is frivolous.

During the past three years, roughly 100 reforms have passed legislatures around the country, including comprehensive reform packages enacted last year in Mississippi and Ohio.