California Court of Appeal upholds medical liability damages cap

The California Court of Appeal recently ruled that the state’s cap on noneconomic damages under the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) is constitutional.

In the case of Chan v. Curran, the plaintiff argued that the cap, which is set at $250,000, should be struck down because MICRA was enacted to mitigate the state’s medical liability crisis in the 1970s and the crisis ended long ago, and that MICRA interfered with the right to a jury trial. The plaintiff also argued that MICRA discouraged attorneys from taking cases on contingency. The court rejected these arguments.

Source: AMA Wire