House Judiciary Committee Chairman Scott Oelslager (R-Canton) recently sent a letter to Ann Womer-Benjamin, director of the Ohio Department of Insurance, asking for data that would help the committee make a decision on SB 80, a measure that seeks to overhaul the civil justice system.
Specifically, the committee is seeking the number of settlements or judgments where the award was more than $250,000 in non-economic damages, and the number of verdicts that included punitive damages.
"Tort reform has too often been based upon unsubstantiated statements, rhetoric and anecdotes, from both sides of this controversial debate," Rep. Oelslager wrote in his letter to Director Benjamin. "I simply believe that the legislature needs to be provided with this data for us to consider the aspects of SB 80 that take away some of the rights currently afforded our citizens."
But Director Benjamin said the Ohio Department of Insurance does not track or collect the data that Chairman Oelslager is seeking, and said that the department receives its information primarily from insurance companies, but only in the aggregate.
Under SB 281, the OSMA-led tort reform initiative enacted last year by the Ohio legislature, clerks of courts are required to submit to the Ohio Department of Insurance an annual report containing a variety of data on medically-related lawsuit claims. But Director Benjamin said that county clerks and judges across the state currently collect this information differently, and that some data is not based in the categories of claims outlined in the bill.
Director Benjamin additionally said that the Medical Malpractice Commission, a study commission created under SB 281 to study the impact of the bill, found that data collection of lawsuit related topics was sporadic and that the commission was considering standardizing the data to be collected.
On a separate matter, Director Benjamin said that she has asked insurers to provide more specific information on their loss experience in medical malpractice. "Typically we only see aggregate data on these claims expense," Director Benjamin said. "But because we are trying to be thorough, we are asking for greater detail with respect to information provided to us in that arena."