The court commented that “the finding by the Legislature and the Task Force that Florida was in the midst of a bona fide medical malpractice crisis, threatening the access of Floridians to health care, is dubious and questionable at the very best.” The court also noted that four malpractice carriers actually increased their net income by more than 4,300% between 2003 and 2010.
In 2010, the Illinois Supreme Court also held in Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital that the state’s $500,000 cap for noneconomic damages was unconstitutional, being in violation of the separation of powers doctrine.7 Only judges are empowered to reduce excessive verdicts, termed a remittitur. Thus, a statutory damage cap amounted to a “legislative remittitur” that invaded the power of the judiciary and violated the constitutional requirement of separation of powers.
The battle over caps continues unabated, with the trend appearing to favor the plaintiff bar. Florida’s ruling was the eighth state supreme court decision that held damage caps unconstitutional, joining Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Washington. Five other states – Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming – already have state constitutional prohibitions on damage caps.
References
1. Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975, Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 3333.2 (West 1982).
2. O’Connell, J. Offers That Can’t Be Refused: Foreclosure of Personal Injury Claims by Defendants’ Prompt Tender of Claimants’ Net Economic Losses. 77 N.W.U.L. Rev. 589, 591 (1982).
3. Thorpe, K. The Medical Malpractice Crisis: Recent Trends and the Impact of State Tort Reforms, Health Affairs 2004, Jan 21 [doi:10.1377/hlthaff.w4.20].
4. Chan v. Curran, 237 Cal. App. 4th 601 (Cal.Ct.App. 2015).
5. Fein v. Permanente Medical Group, 695 P.2d 665 (Cal. 1985).
6. Estate of Michelle Evette McCall v. U.S., 2014 Fla. LEXIS 933 (Fla. Mar. 13, 2014).
7. Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, 930 N.E.2d 895 (Ill. 2010).
Dr. Tan is emeritus professor of medicine and former adjunct professor of law at the University of Hawaii, and currently directs the St. Francis International Center for Healthcare Ethics in Honolulu. This article is meant to be educational and does not constitute medical, ethical, or legal advice. Some of the articles in this series are adapted from the author’s 2006 book, “Medical Malpractice: Understanding the Law, Managing the Risk,” and his 2012 Halsbury treatise, “Medical Negligence and Professional Misconduct.” For additional information, readers may contact the author at siang@hawaii.edu.