NFIB will key-vote Senate Bill 477, legislation that would create a new cause of action against North Carolina’s small businesses. That means the state’s leading small business advocacy organization will record each legislator’s vote and report the results to NFIB members in their districts.
“SB 477 may be called the Victims’ Fair Treatment Act, but it’s really a trial lawyer’s dream,” NFIB State Director Gregg Thompson said. “It would undo decades of legal precedence by abandoning North Carolina’s longstanding ‘contributory negligence’ doctrine. It would let people sue a small business or other organization for an injury caused by their own negligence, not by anything the business did or didn’t do.
“Small businesses are always vulnerable to frivolous lawsuits, but they’re especially exposed right now, when they’re struggling to recover from the COVID-19 downturn,” Thompson said. “The cost of defending themselves against just one bogus claims could be enough to put a small business out of business.
“That’s why it’s essential for senators to vote ‘no’ on this unwelcome and unneeded legislation.”
