Tort Reform

In a responce to the increased cost of doing business Nevada has enacted tort reform legislation that have provisions which limit exemplary damages and abolish joint and several liabilities, except in certain cases. Before tort reform legislation, it was common for courts to award exemplary damages three to five times greater than the compensatory damages. Nevada statutes now limits exemplary damages to an amount no greater that $300,000 when the amount of compensatory damages is less than $100,000. These limitations do not apply to situations involving product liability, the release of toxic substances, and insurer bad faith. The abolishment of joint and several liabilities means that if a judgement is entered against several defendants, they are each equally liable for the full amount of the judgement, without regard to their relative fault in causing damages. Nevada law now requires the court to assign a percentage of fault to each defendant, from zero to one hundred with the total equal to 100 percent. Each defendant is required to pay a share of the total judgement no greater than his/her percentage of fault.