HB2578--CIVILACTIONS
SPONSOR: VanSchoiack
COMMITTEEACTION:Voted"DoPass"bytheStandingCommitteeon
GeneralLawsbyavoteof16to0.
Thisbillcreates"Jaxx'sLaw".Thebillprohibitsabusiness
locatedintheStateorconductingbusinessintheStateorastate
agencyofMissourifromconsideringan"unbornchild",asdefined
inthebill,asanemployeeinacivilaction,includingthose
arisingfromactsoromissionsthatmayincludeawrongfuldeath.
ThisbillisthesameasHB2484(2024).
PROPONENTS: Supporterssaythattheyhopethislegislationhelps
familiesavoidsimilarlegalbattlestowhatJaxx'sfamilyhasgone
through. Thislegislationseekstoprotecttheunbornfrombeing
consideredanemployeeinacivilaction.Itisunrealisticto
consideranunbornchildanemployee.Unbornchildrendonotfile
taxes,collectapaycheck,orworkashift.Adeathcausedbythe
negligenceofanemployee'semployershouldresultintheemployer
beingheldaccountable. Instead,MODOThasavoidedpayingouta
wrongfuldeathclaimbasedonthelegaltheorythatJaxxwasan
employeeandtherefore,hismotherCaitlin'sfamilyisnotentitled
toaclaim.ConsideringJaxxasanemployeeimpliesthatheisof
legalagetoworkintheStateofMissouri. It'sobviousthatthis
wasnotthecasesincehewasafetusatthetimeofhisdeath.
Childrenundertheageof14areunabletobeemployedatanyjob
atanytimeexceptforafewexceptions,noneofwhichinclude
MODOT.Thislegislationensuresthatemployersareheld
accountablefortheirnegligentactions.
TestifyinginpersonforthebillwereRepresentative VanSchoiack;
TabathaMoore;KaylinMoore;OlgaMister,TJ'sStory;Christine
Kent;BrigitBrooks;DavidJarvis;TonyaMusskopf;Andrew
Mundwiller;MichaelBrown;JenniferProtz;DeniseBeckmann,Angel
MomsOverSt.LouisMo;TishaLam;andValerieLee.
OPPONENTS: Therewasnooppositionvoicedtothecommittee.
Writtentestimonyhasbeensubmittedforthisbill.Thefull
writtentestimonyandwitnessestestifyingonlinecanbefound
underTestimonyonthebillpageontheHousewebsite.