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Thursday, February 04, 2010

Courts - "The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday found unconstitutional a state law capping non-economic damages in medical-malpractice cases"

So reports the WSJ Law Blog this afternoon.

Here is the Chicago Tribune coverage by Bruce Japsen, It begins:

The Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state's medical malpractice law today, saying it violates separation of powers by allowing lawmakers to interfere with a judge's ability to reduce verdicts.

The much-anticipated ruling, which challenged the constitutionality of damage caps for doctors and hospitals, is being watched closely by the health care industry and employers that see caps on damages as a way to tame rising health care costs.

The ruling could figure in the national health care debate of stalled health care legislation. In the U.S. Senate where Republicans have opposed existing health care reform legislation, the GOP has been vocal about the need for tort reform and caps on damages.

State lawmakers in 2005 passed legislation, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, that established caps on noneconomic damages of $500,000 in cases against doctors and $1 million against hospitals. Illinois followed other states, such as California, that capped damages years ago.

But Justices writing said they were not persuaded by arguments used in other states. "That ‘everybody is doing it," is hardly a litmus test for the constitutionality of the statute," Justices writing for the majority opinion said.

Further, Justices said that what the statute allows for amounts to a "legislative remittur." Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald delivered the judgment for the seven-member court and was joined in the opinion by Justices Charles Freeman, Thomas Kilbride and Anne Burke. Justice Robert Thomas took no part in the decision, the ruling said.

Here is the 52-page opinion, Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 4, 2010 05:40 PM
Posted to Courts in general