Here's three small business issues lawmakers should consider.
Missouri’s legislature gaveled in on January 8th. As lawmakers return to Jefferson City, NFIB State Director Brad Jones reminds our elected officials to keep small business in mind this year.
Small business owners create jobs and keep Missouri’s economy running. This session, NFIB is working to enact positive measures to help small business owners. Missouri lawmakers can secure the state’s economy by doing three simple things for small business. Here are NFIB’s top priorities for the 2020 legislative session.
Punitive Damages
NFIB supports legislation to revamp the way the state hands out punitive damages. Right now, a jury determines liability for both compensatory and punitive damages. This practice punishes small businesses in Missouri.
NFIB supports reform efforts in the form of bills introduced in both the House and Senate, which awards punitive damages only if a plaintiff proves with clear and convincing evidence that a defendant intentionally harmed them without just cause or acted with a deliberate disregard for the safety of others.
Allowing jurors to focus first on compensatory damages and then focus on punitive damages adds fairness to Missouri’s judicial system. The proposed legislation bans any claims for punitive damages in initial complaints, only allowing them to be added as a motion and supported by evidence ahead of a pre-trial conference or trial date. NFIB supports the legislation in part because any pleading for punitive damages can only come after the court has decided that a standard for fault was met.
“Asking for punitive damages upfront, before any other determination of liability has been established, is just plain wrong. There should also be clear and convincing evidence that punitive damages are appropriate for the case,” says NFIB Missouri State Director Brad Jones.
Product Liability Statute of Limitations
NFIB supports legislation that would institute a statute of limitations for lawsuits claiming harm from defective or unsafe products. NFIB supports legislation filed by both the Missouri House and Senate on this issue. Missouri’s current laws are bad for small business: every seller in a product’s distribution chain can be found liable for injuries that product causes.
For example, if a mom and pop shop that sells a defective dog collar years before it was found to rip apart easily and harm the animal—despite the fact that the problem was traced back to the manufacturer at a plant in a different state—the small Missouri business that sold the collar could be found liable. That means small business owners across the state could be responsible for injuries and forced to pay tens of thousands of dollars in damages—a sum that could threaten the livelihood of those small businesses. NFIB supports proposed legislation that would cap the limitation of damages to 15 years after the sale or lease of the product.
“Small business owners who sell products cannot be expected to be liable for their use indefinitely. Look at the president around the country: 21 other states have protections for innocent sellers of goods because what is state of the art now may not be in 15 years. In Missouri, even retailers and distributors who had nothing to do with the design or manufacturing of a product could still be held liable for its use,” says Brad Jones.
Small Business Regulatory Fairness Board
NFIB supports legislation that would restore the Small Business Regulatory Fairness Board. The House bill would revamp and reinstall the agency, which oversees efforts to make sure all state agencies involve small business while they go through the process of enacting new rules. The bill includes oversight from the Secretary of State’s Office.
