The Infamous Napkin Deal

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So Did the Deal Hold?
“Well, for five years,” says Michael. “It was remarkable. But each side used the five years to build up their defenses, anticipating the end of the truce. And each knew the other side would be armed to the teeth at the end of the five years.”
    In the long run, Michael figures that “perhaps $25 billion was not spent because of the Napkin Deal. And MICRA has saved the healthcare industry maybe $18 million” from its 1975 inception to now. He feels the net effect of the deal, however, has been to deter change and create a standoff between the players.
    Lockyer, who, following the passage of SB 241, received the Tort Reformer of the Year award from the American Tort Reform Association, has a slightly different view. He says there were breaches of the tort-reform agreement, citing the auto-insurance initiative war the very next year that resulted in the passage of Prop. 103 and legislative modifications made later to the agreement regarding tobacco and the definition of “bad faith.”
    Looking at the Capitol milieu today, term limits have changed the Legislature since 1987, moving Willie Brown out and Bill Lockyer up. Term limits have also helped create a Legislature loath to exercise leadership and make needed changes in the political landscape.
    In July, two Senate committees met back-to-back in the same room to approve a bill that’s part of a drive by local governments to change eminent domain rules just enough to fend off a more far-reaching overhaul by property-rights groups. The Civil Justice Association of California seeks class action reform and is said to be drafting an initiative as this article is being written. The same economic powerhouses are still battling over largely the same issues and being represented by largely the same heavy-hitting attorneys and lobbyists.
    And at Frank Fat’s, a “Tort-Mania 1987” poster still hangs over the pay phone in the entryway, a reminder of the political war that was … and is … still raging.

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