Medical malpractice plaintiffs often find themselves suing several parties—one or more hospitals, multiple physicians and other health care providers—for the negligent care they received. And though each case differs, plaintiffs counsel in these types of matters are often presented with tactical decisions leading them to explore the release of one party but not others. A key consideration in determining who to release is that Pennsylvania law does not allow a party to release an agent (for example, a physician) and maintain claims against a principal (for example, a hospital) when the claims against the principal are premised on vicarious liability. It is therefore imperative that plaintiffs counsel seeking joint tortfeasor agreements (JTAs) in the medical malpractice setting be abundantly clear as to the claims—and parties—they are releasing.

Uniform Contribution Among Joint Tortfeasors Act

Joint tortfeasors are “two or more persons jointly or severally liable in tort for the same injury to persons or property,”  see 42 Pa.C.S. Section 8322. Under Pennsylvania’s Uniform Contribution Among Joint Tortfeasors Act (UCATA), an injured party may settle her claims with one joint tortfeasor without releasing her claims against any other joint tortfeasor. By executing a joint tortfeasor agreement (JTA) with a settling defendant, a plaintiff only reduces the value of her claims against the nonsettling defendants—she does not release them entirely. In this way, the “UCATA abrogated the broader common-law rule that payment by one tortfeasor would release all others regardless of the parties’ intent, insofar as it applied to joint tortfeasors,” see Maloney v. Valley Medical Facilities, 984 A.2d 478, 481 n. 4 (Pa. 2009).

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