Lobby Day in Jefferson City, Missouri
Mr. Sanders lobbied state legislators and state senators this week in Jefferson City about bills written by insurance companies that would allow insurance companies to break their promises to their policy holders. The Missouri insurance-buying public would have no recourse, no remedy when an insurance company wrongly denies a claim. HB 2049 would protect insurance companies that wrongfully deny coverage to their customers. It also puts small business assets at risk if they are sued by an injured person when their insurance company wrongfully refuses to defend the claim or pay the judgment. As a business owner himself, Mr. Sanders is grateful for the laws that make a business develop, promote capitalism, and allow a business to grow.
Of course, everyone knows there will always be some corporations that cheat and cut corners. Those corporations, the bad corporations, sometimes hurt Missouri citizens. The worst corporations cut corners, cheat, or ignore common-sense safety rules. The Missouri Chamber of Commerce is promoting a bill to allow bad corporations to get away with such. The Missouri Chamber of Commerce wants to get rid of or greatly impair punitive damages. SB 591 would protect the wrongdoers who act with a willful, wanton or malicious culpable mental state in reckless disregard for the safety of others such that they know there is a high degree of probability that their conduct will result in injury. The way the bill was written, it is so outlandish it lets drunk drivers off the hook. It even protects drunk doctors, for example, when they take off the wrong leg in amputation surgery.
Punitive damages have been around since the book of Leviticus, and Mr. Sanders was lobbying to protect Missouri citizens from the worst of the worst corporations. When bad corporations are allowed to cheat and get away with it, it makes it harder for good corporations to stay in business. Missouri’s punitive damage bill is not only bad for Missouri business, but it is also bad for Missouri citizens.