State bar forms group to fight issue on ballot

Proposal caps health care suit awards

The Arkansas Bar Association formed a ballot committee Friday opposing a proposed constitutional amendment to limit attorneys' fees and noneconomic damages in medical care lawsuits, the group said Friday.

The Fairness for Arkansans ballot committee was formed following a vote by the association's House of Delegates to oppose the measure. It is the second ballot committee set up to campaign against the measure ahead of the Nov. 8 general election. The other committee has received its support entirely from attorneys.

The proposed amendment -- which would limit attorneys' fees to one-third of damages in suits against medical care providers and require the Legislature to set a maximum cap of at least $250,000 for "pain and suffering" awards -- is supported by a contingent of nursing home and care facilities, doctors and pharmacists.

Groups set up to campaign for and against ballot measures must register with the Arkansas Ethics Commission and report their finances every month. On Friday evening, the Ethics Commission listed no documents for the Bar Association's ballot committee.

A press release sent by the Bar Association said the directors of the ballot committee would be Scott Trotter, Paula Casey, Nancy Wilson and Kristin Pawlik. The Bar Association and the offices for the four directors could not be reached for comment Friday evening. The group is going to hold a news conference Monday to discuss its opposition.

Groups on both sides of the ballot issue have accused their opponents of acting on behalf of special interest groups, and their financial reports show that lawyers and medical care providers have provided most of the money being spent for and against the measure.

Adam Jegley and Martha Deaver, an advocate for nursing home patients who opposes the amendment, set up the Committee to Protect AR Families in July. The group reported donations of $420,430 -- entirely from attorneys and law firms -- in its first month.

Health Care Access for Arkansans, the ballot committee formed to support the amendment and which helped gather signatures for petitions to get it on the ballot, reported contributions of $870,710 in May, June and July. The group reported individual donations from nursing homes, pharmacists and physicians. More than half of its contributions, totaling $580,000, have come from the Arkansas Health Care Association, which represents most of the care facilities in the state.

After an ethics complaint called for the Health Care Association to report its own contributors, it filed as a ballot committee this month and reported more than 100 donors, mostly nursing homes and rehabilitation centers.

Metro on 08/27/2016

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