Gov. Haley Barbour made one thing clear in his State of the State address: tort reform is a priority.

&8220;We must eliminate lawsuit abuse in Mississippi,&8221; Barbour said. &8220;Lawsuit abuse continues to threaten the quality of and access to health care in our state. Businesses will not locate in a place if they fear their employees and families cannot get quality health care. We must do more to end medical lawsuit abuse.&8221;

For Barbour to be successful in advancing this part of his agenda, he must be crafty in navigating the legislative waters that are diced with the interest of business and trial lawyer lobbyists.

Of course, one well-respected legislator close to the tort reform fight put it well, &8220;Haley Barbour usually finds a way to get what he wants.&8221; But as any astute political observer knows, compromises only come when both sides can claim victory.

The players are more diverse this session than last. On the House side, little has changed with Rep. Edward Blackmon, D-Canton, chairing Judiciary A. Blackmon, an opponent of tort reform, is a trial lawyer who has found much wealth in large tort cases. On the Senate side, Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck appointed Sen. Charlie Ross, R-Brandon, to serve as the chair of Judiciary A. Ross is one of the leading Republicans in the state and a huge proponent of tort reform.

What these two appointments boil down to is this: tort reform will get its day in the sun, if just only on the Senate side.

Enter Barbour, who has been around the political block enough times to know that a tort reform package that includes a cap on punitive damages, a medical tort review board and changes to the joinder and venue laws will never hit his desk. So what has a chance?

If you reference Barbour’s speech, he listed a review board as his main wish. The review board’s findings could not prevent lawsuits from going forward but would be admissible in court and would require plaintiffs to pay the legal bill for the defense if the plaintiff lost the case.

Second, Barbour addressed the need to protect small businesses and individuals with changes to laws governing joinder and venue. If you take an honest look at Mississippi’s tort system, only a handful of counties &045; such as Jefferson County &045; are considered a jackpot justice area.

Third in line and the last point of his tort reform proposal in his speech were caps on non-economic damages. Interestingly enough, Barbour did not give a specific amount he wanted to see capped. Some would say that was par for the course for his speech &045; many proposals but few specifics. But during his campaign, Barbour repeatedly said he wanted to see a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages for all civil cases.

So what does all of this mean? Possibly nothing. But possibly it is part of a blueprint Barbour and legislators intend to use to make strides in tort reform while allowing both politically charged sides to claim victory.

Try this on for plausible: The Senate passes a comprehensive tort reform package that would be a Republican’s dream. The House then guts the measure, leaving only the venue and joinder language and possibly a watered down review board. Caps are thrown out the window. In a conference committee, the two sides sit down, hammer out the details and come up with a bill that’s strongest language would prevent venue shopping and protect innocent small businesses from bad joinder laws.

Would this be satisfactory to all involved? You bet. Anti-tort reformers protect an individual’s access to the courts and their just deserve by blocking additional caps on punitive damages &045; a definite sticking point.

Pro-tort reformers get rid of venue shopping. As one legislator put it, if you get rid of venue shopping through poor joinder laws then caps on non-economic damages are not as urgent because most counties have reasonable rewards coming out of their courts.

And for Barbour, he gets a tort reform victory and a feather in his hat for bringing two factious sides together. It all sounds good, if it actually plays out that way.

Sam R. Hall

can be reached by e-mail to

shall@sctonline.net

.