Pelican State News

Small business owners in Louisiana are urging legislators to address the rising insurance costs by passing critical legal reforms in the 2025 legislative session. Leah Long, the State Director of NFIB, emphasized that small businesses are already reaching out to their legislators ahead of the session starting on April 14.

"Louisiana’s small business owners are struggling with skyrocketing insurance costs, and stopping lawsuit abuse is essential to fixing the problem," Long stated. She added that these commonsense reforms are necessary to stabilize the insurance market, reduce costs, and ensure a fair legal system.

NFIB supports several legislative measures aimed at reforming insurance-related laws. These include placing medical damages in personal injury cases into a trust to prevent excess costs from increasing insurance rates and establishing a $750,000 cap on non-economic damages like pain and suffering for more predictable insurance claims.

Additionally, they propose preventing individuals who are 50% or more at fault from recovering damages to reduce frivolous claims inflating premiums. Another measure would allow courts to consider both billed and paid medical costs in claims to prevent excessive awards that contribute to rising expenses. Furthermore, personal injury attorneys would be required to notify defendants and insurers within 10 days of taking a case, aiming to reduce litigation delays.

"Lawsuit abuse drives up insurance costs and takes money away from business growth, hiring, and community support," Long noted. "Passing these bills would ensure fairness and provide Main Street businesses with the certainty they need to focus on serving their customers and strengthening Louisiana’s economy."