California Supreme Court To Review Constitutionality of Medical Malpractice Damages Cap, says Consumer Watchdog

California Supreme Court To Review Constitutionality of Medical Malpractice Damages Cap, says Consumer Watchdog: 

"SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 

The California Supreme Court said today it will review the constitutionality of the state's arbitrary 39-year-old damages cap of $250,000 in medical malpractice cases in Hughes v. Pham. Last week, Consumer Watchdog wrote an amicus letter asking the Court to review Hughes and overturn this decades-old injustice.

Read the letter to the California Supreme Court HERE:  

"Several states in recent years have determined that their own damages caps were unconstitutional and unjust – it's time for California to join them," said Pam Pressley, litigation director for Consumer Watchdog. "Families who have lost loved ones and victims of medical negligence deserve the justice and accountability that the damages cap denies." 

 In March, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that state's cap on medical negligence damages was unconstitutional. In its decision, the Court wrote: 

"At the present time, the cap on noneconomic damages serves no other purpose other than to arbitrarily punish the most grievously injured or their surviving family members. …The statutory cap on wrongful death noneconomic damages does not bear a rational relationship to the stated purpose that the cap is purported to address, the alleged medical malpractice insurance crisis in Florida." 

 California's cap on non-economic damages in medical negligence cases was enacted by the legislature in 1975, and in those 39 years has never been adjusted for inflation.

"Leondra Kruger, Governor Brown's latest Supreme Court appointment, at 38 years old was not even born when the damage cap was enacted in California. We hope that she will bring a fresh perspective on malpractice victims' rights considering that none of the conditions purporting to support enactment of the cap in 1975 exist today," said Pressley. 

 Despite the promise made by supporters of the cap of lower malpractice insurance rates, medical malpractice insurance premiums continued to rise in the years following its enactment."



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