Medical Malpractice Caps on Damages Stricken by Florida Supreme Court

In a long awaited opinion, Florida’s Supreme Court yesterday struck down the caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases involving wrongful death. The detailed opinion concluded that the basis for the 2003 law limiting pain and suffering damages – an alleged malpractice crisis – was in fact nonexistent. The Court further noted that even if there had been such a crisis, it was over. The court found that even had there been such a crisis, the limitation of damages was an equal protection violation of Florida’s constitution. The Supreme Court recognized that these caps, which never resulted in savings to physicians anyway, penalized only the most severely injured. The full opinion can be found here: McCall v US – Striking Cap March 13, 2014-sc11-1148-1