7 ways the Alabama Legislature protected businesses during the Regular Session

[tps_title]6. Innovator Liability overturned[/tps_title]

In April, the Legislature passed a bill sponsored by that overturns the Alabama Supreme Court’s adoption of a novel legal theory, known as innovator liability, that could hurt Alabama’s businesses and the state’s business climate.

“By passing this important legislation, the Alabama Legislature has stood with Alabama’s businesses by reversing the Alabama Supreme Court’s adoption of a novel tort theory, which could have had chilling effects on Alabama’s business climate,” said Canary. “Gov. Bentley, Speaker Hubbard and Senator Marsh
along with Sen. Cam Ward and Rep. Jack ‘J.D.’ Williams deserve the credit for promptly correcting this wrong.”

The innovator liability legislation was necessary because the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in 2013 and 2014 that a brand-name drug manufacturer can be held liable – on a “fraud” theory – for physical injuries caused by a generic drug product it neither made nor sold. Small business owners were protected against the loss of $39 million in administrative discounts for collecting and early payment of certain state taxes to the Alabama Department of Revenue.