‘Personal-Injury Justice’

I was pleased and surprised to read the article by Richard Wiebe. I say “surprised” because I introduced a bill in 1985, AB 2505, to do the very thing Wiebe’s article suggests.

AB 2505 would extend the current provisions in law known as MICRA, the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act to include all tort liability cases (including local government entities), and would be known as PICRA, Personal Injury Compensation Reform Act.

My bill, unfortunately, is still waiting to be heard in Assembly Judiciary Committee. It has been waiting for a hearing date since January of last year!

In a time when counties and other government entities are in desperate need for assistance in alleviating the taxpayer strain that huge public liability insurance costs are having on their very existence, the very least we, the California Legislature, can do, is see that any tort reform measure be given a fair and speedy hearing. If not, the people may have to do our work as they did with the “deep pocket” compromise legislation, SB 75. They have submitted over 600,000 signatures to place that on the June 1986 statewide ballot as a voter initiative.

WILLIAM J. FILANTE MD

Assemblyman

Ninth District

Greenbrae