House passes bill to sanction lawyers for frivolous suits

The legislation also takes aim at "venue shopping."

By Mike Norbut, AMNews staff. Nov. 21, 2005.

For the second consecutive year, the House of Representatives has passed a measure designed to reduce frivolous lawsuits by penalizing the attorneys who file them.

The bill, which passed by a 228-184 vote in late October, calls for federal courts to apply sanctions against an attorney who, according to a judge's opinion, has filed a lawsuit without merit. The penalty would be paying the defendant's "reasonable expenses," including attorney's fees.

The measure also calls for the court to suspend an attorney's license for one year if he or she files three or more frivolous lawsuits.

"Frivolous lawsuits bankrupt individuals, ruin reputations, drive up insurance premiums, increase health care costs and put a drag on the economy," Rep. Lamar Smith (R, Texas), the bill's sponsor, said in a statement. "Today almost any party can bring any suit in almost any jurisdiction. That's because plaintiffs and their attorneys have nothing to lose."

In addition to sanctioning lawyers who file meritless lawsuits, the bill would prevent so-called "venue shopping" by requiring personal injury cases to be filed where the plaintiff lives or was injured or where the defendant's main business is located.

The bill would apply to all cases and was not passed specifically to address medical liability insurance issues. It would amend federal civil procedure rules to make attorneys more accountable for their actions, supporters of the bill said.

While it continues to lobby for a $250,000 noneconomic damages cap in medical liability cases, the AMA urged Congress to vote for the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2005.