The Louisiana Supreme Court sent a concerning message to tort reform supporters when it surprisingly reversed its own earlier decision, which lowered an almost $19-million judgment awarded to a commercial truck driver severely injured in a 2018 auto accident in Barber Brothers Contracting Company, LLC v. Capitol City Produce Company, LLC, et al. This ruling is viewed as a gut-punch to a state desperately in need of an improved tort environment.
According to the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI), Louisiana experiences double the national average for the value of a bodily injury claim resulting from a motor vehicle accident. Hence, when the Louisiana Supreme Court originally lowered the excessive judgment in Barber Brothers, tort reform advocates believed that this would set the stage to improve Louisiana’s horrifically high insurance rates – rates that are 30-40% above the national average. Simply put, the original Louisiana Supreme Court ruling in Barber Brothers sought to provide guidance on whether and when it is appropriate for juries in personal injury cases to impose large monetary damages and what amounts will be considered “abusively high” going forward.
So, what happened?
In 2018, A Capitol City Produce employee was injured following a collision with an employee of Barber Brothers Contracting, causing moderate traumatic brain injuries and bodily injuries requiring numerous corrective surgeries. At trial, the East Baton Rouge Parish jury found Barber Brothers solely at fault for the accident and awarded $13.25 million in general damages. Additionally, the jury awarded the plaintiff’s wife $2.5 million in loss of consortium damages and $1.5 million apiece to the couple’s two minor children.
On appeal, the Louisiana Supreme Court initially determined that the jury had granted too much money, stripping away roughly 75 percent of their damages award in a 5-2 decision, by applying an objective analysis and using prior cases as guideposts for an appropriate award range.
However, upon the plaintiff’s application for rehearing, the Louisiana Supreme Court reversed its earlier decision, ruling instead that the trial court’s damages awards were appropriate and made clear that a reviewing court cannot make an objective award for personal injuries by simply relying on prior precedent. The Louisiana Supreme Court stated that “[w]hile the introduction of prior awards can be considered when navigating abusively low or abusively high quantum awards in personal injury cases, it shall not take precedence over the personal, particular, subjective elements of the case that make it unique.” The Louisiana Supreme Court reversed its own course and signaled that the damage amounts courts traditionally considered “high” or “excessive” are shifting.
Impacts to the Louisiana Insurance Market
After making some small, but positive, strides in tort reform in the 2024 Louisiana Regular Legislative Session, and with recent high-profile federal indictments in a sprawling accident fraud scheme, trucking and logistics companies viewed Louisiana as moving in the right direction in terms of an improving tort environment. Removing objective fairness, the clarity of prior precedence, and reasonable controls on excessive judgments erodes the confidence of the business community – which is the unfortunate result of the Barber Brothers decision. Until real changes are realized, tort reform experts predict that Louisiana motor vehicle insurance rates will remain high, Louisiana will rank near the bottom of tort environment rankings in the U.S., and the cost of living for everyday Louisiana citizens will be out of line with the national averages. Even before Barber Brothers, LABI estimates that excessive judgments create a “tort tax” in Louisiana to the tune of $1,263 per Louisianian. Do not expect that to change anytime soon.