California Lawmakers Face Renewed Scrutiny for Inaction on Legal Reform, Placed on “Heat Watch” by National Report
Today, the American Tort Reform Association placed California’s legislatur...
Damages for noneconomic losses are damages for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of consortium or companionship, and other intangible injuries. These damages involve no direct economic loss and have no precise value. It is very difficult for juries to assign a dollar value to these losses, given the minimal guidance they customarily receive from the court. As a result, these awards tend to be erratic and, because of the highly charged environment of personal injury trials, excessive.
The broad and basically unguided discretion given juries in awarding damages for noneconomic loss is the single greatest contributor to the inequities and inefficiencies of the tort liability system. It is a difficult issue to address objectively because of the emotions involved in cases of serious injury and because of the financial interests of plaintiffs’ lawyers.
ATRA supports a $250,000 limit on the award of noneconomic damages.
Limits noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases to $300,000.
Limits noneconomic damages to $350,000 per healthcare provider, with an overall aggregate limit of $1.05 million.
Limits noneconomic damages in medical liability cases to $500,000 per physician and $1 million per hospital.
Classifies the loss of household or other services, loss of companionship and loss of consortium as noneconomic damages.
Limits noneconomic damages in medical liability cases to a nonadjustable limit of $350,000 regardless of the number of defendants in the case.
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Court Granted Cert
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Court Ruled in Favor of ATRA's Position