Gov. Mike Parson devoted just a single line in his State of the State address to changing Missouri’s tort laws. “We must have a real discussion about tort reform in the legislature,” he said in his Jan. 15 speech to ...

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As lawmakers returned to Jefferson City on Jan. 8, the Republican majority appeared ready to pick up where last year’s efforts to change the state’s tort laws left off. Among the bills expected to get a major push this year ...

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Fulfilling one of Republican lawmakers’ major goals for tort law this year, the Missouri House gave final approval to a bill that overhauls the state’s venue and joinder laws. The bill passed by a 100-46 vote on May 1 and ...

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The Missouri Senate has given first-round approval to a bill that would alter Missouri’s venue and joinder laws — in a way far different from what lawmakers had envisioned just two weeks ago.

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State lawmakers have been pushing for three years to overhaul Missouri’s venue and joinder laws, citing the large number of mass torts in St. Louis featuring mostly out-of-state plaintiffs suing out-of-state companies. As one lawyer put it, St. Louis had become “America’s courtroom.”

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Lawmakers returned to Jefferson City on Jan. 9 for the 100th session of the Missouri General Assembly. It promises to be a very different session than last year’s. Most notably, lawmakers are working with a new governor, Mike Parson, who succeeded former Gov. Eric Greitens last year after a series of scandals led Greitens to resign on June 1.

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The court last Wednesday heard arguments in a constitutional challenge to a statute that says plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases must get a doctor’s expert opinion at the outset of filing of their case.

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What defense lawyers seem not to realize is that tort reform hasn’t worked for 25 years. And large verdicts may be the most effective drivers in making health care safer.

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Can you change a constitutional right without actually amending the constitution? Sponsors of a bill under consideration in a Missouri Senate committee are trying to find out.

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Buried in the White House’s federal budget plan is a proposal to encourage states to reform their medical malpractice laws.

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St. Louis County Circuit Judge Stephen Goldman created a stir when he declared the medical bills statute of Missouri’s tort reform law unconstitutional. In an order granting the plaintiff’s motion for a new trial, Goldman in August said the law ...

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