Trial lawyers: Harwood bill ‘very confusing’

Barbara Jorden, lobbyist for the Idaho Trial Lawyers Association, told the Senate Transportation Committee her group opposes HB 193a, Rep. Dick Harwood’s bill to require a 5 percent bond for anti-megaload lawsuits against ITD. “We in theory don’t disagree with this bill, but it is very confusing to us, I think just as confusing to our association as it is to you trying to understand it,” she said. She said it’s clear that the bill responds to an incident that’s just happened. “I would like to say that it would be nice if we didn’t pass legislation based on one incident,” she said. “We need to look at it a little more broadly than that one particular case, because that case was very confusing, it was confusing for the people that brought the case, it was confusing for the department. … given that we have been through that process in the last year and a half, I think that there is a greater understanding of how it is all supposed to work.”

She noted that Idaho law already has provisions to address frivolous lawsuits. “We already do have a mechanism within our state that covers and takes care of any instance where the lawsuits are just not appropriate,” she said. The bill seems to confuse a bond with a fee, Jorden said. She recommended killing the bill, but if lawmakers want to advance it, she proposed extensive amendments. However, she said, “It needs some more significant work than I think we can right now do to fix it.”