Iowa lawmakers should park the trucker liability bill

Iowa lawmakers are considering a bill that would shield trucking companies from being sued for “direct negligence in hiring, training, supervising, or trusting” an employee if their drivers are involved in a serious crash. It would also limit non-economic damages at $1 million for crash victims stemming from pain, suffering, physical impairment, loss of companionship, employment and other impacts.

The bill has spawned strong reactions from opponents, including some Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature.

“The American jury system is built on plaintiffs being able to recover their damages, economic and non-economic … based on evidence presented to a jury — the 12 people that sit in a box and listen to the evidence and look the plaintiff in eye,” said Rep. Brian Lohse, R-Bondurant, an attorney who did personal injury and insurance claim work, according to reporting by The Gazette’s Tom Barton. “They are the ones in the American legal system that are entitled to determine how much pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life they’re able to recover. … It is, in my mind, very arrogant of us to even contemplate this.”

We strongly agree with Lohse. We have a legal system designed to let jurors who hear the facts of a case answer questions of liability and damages. We see no compelling reason for lawmakers to put their thumb on the scales of justice.

The bill, House Study Bill 114, is a bad fit for Iowa, and would make our state the first to enact this sort of liability protection for trucking firms.

For one thing, there’s little evidence that Iowa is plagued by overzealous damage awards in these cases. The right of Iowans to have their day in court and seek just damages for harm caused by a tragic accident vastly outweighs the desire of trucking companies to keep their insurance rates down and make their liability levels more predictable. Economic development isn’t more important than lives.

Also, large trucks are involved in a higher percentage of fatal accidents in Iowa than the national average, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA defines large truck as “any medium or heavy truck, excluding buses and motor homes, with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) greater than 10,000 pounds. These large trucks include both commercial and non-commercial vehicles.” But the agency also reports that in 2020, 72 percent of crashes nationwide involving large trucks involved trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 26,000 pounds.

In Iowa, the percentage of fatal crashes involving large trucks in 2020 was 14.3 percent, compared to a national average of 8.9 percent. Iowa is one of 17 states with percentages exceeding in 10 percent.

So now is not the time to reduce the ability of Iowans to seek damages for the many impacts of serious and fatal truck accidents. As in past years, lawmakers should scrap the legislation.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com

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