Leave it to the truckers to know a good thing when they see it. Like tort reform.
Truckers, through the American Trucking Associations' Insurance Task Force and state trucking associations, have been strongly supporting tort reform efforts and the American Tort Reform Association, which is tackling the issue on a state-by-state basis across the U.S.
For the uninitiated, tort reform is absolutely essential if auto liability insurance rates for motorcoach operators are ever going to be brought under control.
A number of broad-based tort reforms have been adopted this year, including efforts to roll back the influence of plaintiff attorney bars in a handful of states.
Still, the successes are not yet widespread and there is a long way to go. But with insurers abandoning whole business sectors and doctors striking, tort reform has taken on new impetus. That momentum resulted in passage this year of a number of reform bills.
Here's a roundup of tort reform efforts across the country:
* Arkansas - Overhaul of state civil justice system.
* Idaho - Caps on non-economic damages and a "clear and convincing" standard for recovery of punitive damages.
* Louisiana - Employer immunity on disclosure of background information; jury service reform.
* Mississippi - General tort reform.
* Montana - Punitive damage limits.
* Minnesota - Joint and several liability threshold raised from 15 percent to 50 percent.
* Ohio - General tort reform, joint and several liability.
* Pennsylvania - Joint and several liability.
* Texas - Seat belt use admissibility; joint and several liability; venue.
* West Virginia - Venue.
Work also is ongoing in Iowa and Missouri, where solid reform bills were vetoed by their governors.
As Fred C. Burns Jr., chairman of the American Trucking Associations' Insurance Task Force, wrote in Transport Topics: "Tort reform is not and cannot be a one-year project."
And in the ground transportation industry, it shouldn't be the exclusive purview of the trucking industry. Coach operators and state motorcoach associations need to lend their strong support to the truckers and trucking associations in their home states.
Chambers of Commerce in many states also support tort reform efforts.
Burns, who is president of a Marlington, W. Va.-based motor freight company, could be speaking about the motorcoach industry when he says "I think we as trucking company owners often lose sight of the bigger picture - that we're a large and visible part of the general business community. We have the assets, but we don't often enough use the clout that comes with those assets to work in legislatures to get what we need for our businesses.
"We tend to shy away from issues that cross business boundaries, sticking with more parochial issues like highway financing and access. On those occasions where we have joined with the business community at large, too often we aren't out front steering the discussions.
"I think we can work at being more effective in presenting our public policy positions, and getting tort reform legislation passed in the states gives us the opportunity to flex this muscle. ... You can and must engage in this process. Just as this country asks little of us as citizens but to vote, I'm not asking you do too much but to look at your bottom line and say that it can be improved."
And tort reform is a quantifiable way to improve it.