Doctors insisted these lawsuits, supposedly filed by those seeking "jackpot justice," had particularly hurt the medical community.

The combination of lawsuits and resulting jury verdicts was identified as Public Enemy Number One in efforts to contain skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance premiums.

Based largely on the twin pillars of affordability and availability, the Legislature granted the medical industry relief, through among other things capping non-economic damages, even though there is no guarantee that insurance premiums will decrease or even remain the same. And despite the fact that the practices of the insurance industry avoided scrutiny.

It will be interesting in a couple of years to examine whether this was an effective tool or just a ruse, as some strongly suspect.

Such a review would have been unnecessary for a general tort reform bill the House approved Wednesday.

This proposal, which died in the Senate on Thursday, was a license to hurt and deceive. Lawmakers should be ashamed for offering it.

Deliberate harm shielded

The House, on a 90-29 vote, approved legislation that would have shielded small businesses as well as corporate titans from large damage awards when they engage in deliberate transgressions. The bill, originally designed to protect small businesses from large jury awards, would have limited punitive awards intended to punish entities for negligence, fraud or irresponsibility, to 10 percent of a business' net worth.

But Rep. Carmel Wells Smith, R-Pascagoula, offered a successful amendment making the measure all inclusive.

The legislation was outrageous, as was a Senate bill that would have capped all damages in civil lawsuits. The House rejected that measure on Thursday.

A strong case for civil justice reform in general and the need for caps on punitive damages in particular simply has not been made. The business lobby claims that lawsuits and large jury verdicts are hurting existing businesses and efforts to recruit new ones. The facts, as reported by the federal government and the state of Mississippi, just don't support those assertions.

Mississippi is among the leaders in job creation. And during three hours of floor debate on Wednesday, it was noted that the courts have upheld only $16 million in punitive damages in 40 years.

It's really about greed

What is this really about? Greed.

The business lobby in Mississippi does not want protection from so-called "frivolous lawsuits. " It wants an exemption from any lawsuits, and to be empowered to run roughshod over consumers, investors, the public and anyone or anything that gets in the way of its bottom line.

What's more offensive than this quest is the Legislature's willingness to cash this coupon, to give all businesses in Mississippi a "get out of jail free card. "

Smith, in offering her amendment to treat small businesses and large corporations the same, said, "it's a matter of what's right and what's fair. " The bill was more than fair to business. It's also an invitation for irresponsibility.

No one, however, can argue that the proposals were fair to individuals or consumers, who often bear the brunt of corporate wrongdoing.

Who is going to help these people? Certainly not the Legislature, whose members were elected to serve them.

Lawmakers should be ashamed.