Florida Supreme Court Strikes Med Mal Damages Caps for Pain and Suffering
The 4-3 decision finds the cap violates the Florida Constitution's equal protection clause, but dissenters attack the majority for stepping on the Legislature's toes.
June 08, 2017 at 03:37 PM
5 minute read
Florida's cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice injury cases is unconstitutional, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The 4-3 decision relied on the court's 2014 ruling that a similar cap in wrongful death cases violated the Florida Constitution's equal protection clause. Lawmakers put the caps in place in 2003 because they said a medical malpractice insurance crisis was pushing doctors to leave Florida.
“Because there is no evidence of a continuing medical malpractice insurance crisis justifying the arbitrary and invidious discrimination between medical malpractice victims, there is no rational relationship between the personal injury noneconomic damage caps in [Florida law] and alleviating this purported crisis,” the unsigned opinion said.
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