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Tort Reform in Nevada
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Nevada has joined a group of states that have enacted tort reform legislation in response to the increased cost of doing business resulting from potential liability. The goal of tort reform is to reduce the exposure of businesses and their insurers. The key features of Nevada's legislation are provisions which limit exemplary damages and abolish joint and several liability except in certain cases.
Before the tort reform legislation, it was common for courts to award exemplary damages three to five times greater than the compensatory damages. Nevada statute now limits exemplary damages to an amount no greater than $300,000 when the amount fo the compensatory damages is less than $100.000. These limitations do not apply to situations involving insurer bad faith, the release of toxic substances, or product liability.
The other significant change in Nevada law is the abolishment of joint and several liability. Joint and several liability means that if a judgment is entered against several defendants, they are each equally liable for the full amount for the full amount of the judgment, without regard to their relative fault in causing the damages. Nevada 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 found liable is required to pay a share of the total judgment no greater than his/her percentage of fault.
