Chamber of Commerce won’t appeal court ruling

Kirsten Searer

Thursday, July 22, 2004 | 9:28 a.m.

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce has decided against appealing a court ruling that put an initiative that purports to stop frivolous lawsuits on the ballot.

The chamber said this week it wanted to work against the initiative, which representatives said also would undermine efforts to curb medical malpractice insurance costs.

A judge ruled on Tuesday that 10,331 signatures thrown out by the Secretary of State should be reinstated, meaning the petition has enough signatures to make the ballot.

Instead of appealing the ruling, the chamber will focus on educating its members about the implications the initiative could have for Nevada doctors, Government Affairs Director Christina Dugan said.

The frivolous lawsuits initiative would force attorneys to pay legal fees if they have "willfully encouraged, initiated or pursued litigation or defended litigation in a manner which is vexatious and frivolous."

But it also is designed to curb another initiative, the Keep Our Doctors in Nevada ballot measure, which would cap the pain and suffering amount a patient could win against a doctor at $350,000.

The chamber supports that ballot measure.

Also on Wednesday proponents of an initiative to legalize up to one ounce of marijuana said they are still unsure what they will do with their signatures.

Proponents of the initiative were not involved in the court case that reinstated signatures for the frivolous lawsuit petition. But Jennifer Knight, a spokeswoman for the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, said she thinks the group could easily have about 15,141 signatures reinstated because they were thrown out for the same reason.

That would leave the initiative with just 50,088 signatures, short of the 51,337 signatures needed to make the ballot.

The group will decide what to do with the signatures by the end of the week, she said. They could ask for a full recount or potentially pursue court action, she said.

"We're just looking at our options," she said. "We will try our best to get this on the ballot because we know we had initially 70,000 people who wanted to see this on the ballot."