William F. Smith: “Mr. Speaker, anyone who is worried about what frivolous lawsuits will do to them, their family, their friends, or their…”

“Mr. Speaker, anyone who is worried about what frivolous lawsuits will do to them, their family, their friends, or their businesses ought to rush to oppose this Democratic substitute amendment. That is because it is an amendment that will do very little to prevent frivolous lawsuits. The underlying bill makes several key changes that will deter lawyers from filing frivolous lawsuits. The substitute amendment before us strips all these away. First, this legislation, the underlying legislation, allows the court to require an individual who files a frivolous lawsuit to pay attorneys' fees incurred as a result of the frivolous lawsuit. This provision obviously makes attorneys think twice before they file such a frivolous lawsuit. However, the Democratic substitute amendment does not include this key provision. In other words, there is no disincentive to file a frivolous lawsuit. This also means that under the Democratic substitute, small business owners would still suffer from the cost of frivolous lawsuits. Individuals would still suffer because they would see their insurance premiums go up. They would see their health care costs rise. They would still see their reputations damaged, all because of wrongfully filed, frivolous lawsuits.”