Lifting limit on claims proposed

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2000 | 10:17 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- An assemblyman has proposed lifting the 23-year-old limit of $50,000 that citizens can collect in damages when they have been wronged by the state or local government.

Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, suggested Wednesday that people be allowed to seek full reimbursement for their medical bills and loss of wages when they are injured due to the fault of a government employee. But he proposes a limit on the amount they could be paid for pain and suffering.

Anderson made his recommendation at a meeting in Las Vegas of a legislative study committee, which he heads.

The idea drew a cool reception from two committee members -- Sens. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, and Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora -- who said lifting the limit would hurt rural counties -- many of them now in dire financial straits.

In 1977 the Legislature amended the law to raise the tort limit to $50,000, and it hasn't been raised since. Trial lawyers say citizens are getting shortchanged when they are injured or wronged because the cost of everything has increased.

William Bradley, a Reno attorney, said Nevada is one of a few states with a "small cap." He noted that if a government employee in Nevada drove into California on official business and injured somebody, there would be no limit on the damages.

There is also no limit now on such claims as civil rights violations or sexual harassment complaints, which end up in federal court.

The $50,000 limit can be exceeded in certain cases. A spouse may also collect damages if injured in the same accident or sees a partner hurt or killed.

Anderson, whose committee meets April 19 in Carson City to make its final recommendations for the 2001 Legislature, said, "This is a topic where emotions play a big part."

Local governments and school districts have been reluctant to any change.

Bill Hoffman, general counsel for the Clark County School District, told the study committee that raising the limit from $50,000 to $100,000 might cost his districts $250,000 a year more.

"That's eight new teachers, computers and books," he said.

"That change must be properly funded (by the state) so it is not paid by the students of the state."

Anderson's proposal, besides allowing unlimited recovery for medical bills and loss of wages, would keep a limit on pain and suffering at $50,000. But that would be raised to $75,000 in 2003 and then to $100,000 in 2005 in the larger counties of Clark and Washoe.

The limit in rural counties would be increased for pain and suffering to $60,000 in 2003 and $75,000 in 2005. "That would be real tough" for many of the rural counties, said McGinness, citing Esmeralda and Lincoln counties' poor financial condition. He said there must be a "middle ground" for the committees to agree on.