Punkin Chunkin Tort Reform

Republican Senator Brian Pettyjohn tried to enact a state wide $1 million damages cap for any personal injury or wrongful at a special event, otherwise known as Republican Tort Reform, under the guise of saving the Punkin Chunkin competition. The Democrats on the Senate Executive Committee weren’t having it.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, R-Georgetown, was sought by the organizers of Punkin Chunkin, who are still searching for a permanent home for the pumpkin-flying event after a 2013 lawsuit filed by an event volunteer who suffered serious injuries in an ATV accident.

Pettyjohn’s legislation would have capped pain-and-suffering damages at $1 million for personal injury lawsuits filed against nonprofit companies sponsoring annual special events. The measure would not have applied to events sponsored by for-profit companies. It also would not have limited awards for lost wages and medical bills and would have applied no limitations where gross negligence or intentional actions caused the injuries.

Senate President Pro Tem Patricia Blevins, D-Elsmere, and three other Democratic leaders voted to bottle up the legislation in the Senate Executive Committee. Two Republicans – Senate Minority Leader Gary Simpson, R-Milford, and Sen. Greg Lavelle, R-Sharpley – voted in favor of Pettyjohn’s measure.

After the vote, Pettyjohn said he worried Punkin Chunkin would move across state lines after three decades in Delaware. […]

A former Punkin Chunkin volunteer, Daniel Fair, filed a lawsuit in October 2013 alleging the event organizers and the landowner, Wheatley Farms Inc., were responsible for an ATV accident that damaged his spinal cord and made it difficult for him to walk, causing him to lose his job as a tug boat worker.

Fair was one of the spotters who ride into the field where pumpkins land to measure how far they are flung; the ATV he was riding hit a hole in the ground, causing the crash, and he alleged the event organizers and the farm’s negligence led to the injury.

Oh well. How about we try some other things first before we change the only protection a citizen has against corporate malfeasance and negligence: the civil jury system. How about having those ATV riders sign a waiver? How about you inspect the field for holes and dangerous conditions prior to the competition? How about you train these volunteers better? How about we wait to see how this pending litigation involving the ATV accident plays out? It may be that the jury finds no negligence and/or awards a much reduced amount than what the Plaintiff is asking for, thus rendering the supposed need for this legislation moot.