What are Damages Caps?
When you win a personal injury lawsuit, you may think you'll be getting the full amount of the jury award. But that may not be the case depending on where you live. As a part of tort reform and trying to control out of control jury verdicts in cases involving personal injury claims or medical malpractice cases, many states have enacted damages caps that might limit the amount of damages you receive from the justice system.
What are damages caps and why do some states think they are necessary?
It’s a complicated question.
What Types of Cases are Affected
Say you have a claim against a doctor who may have been negligent in providing you care for an injury or medical condition. Medical malpractice claims originate from when a medical professional or health-care provider deviates from the normal standard of care used in the field and fails to provide reasonable medical care for their patient.
Essentially, medical malpractice claims are for catastrophic injuries or wrongful death as a result of the doctor's negligence. Damages can include compensatory damages such as medical expenses, and non-economic damages such as loss of enjoyment of life, loss of quality of life, and mental anguish.
Personal injury cases are usually filed based on things like car accidents. The injured party could be looking to recover money to cover their medical bills and also fair compensation for their emotional distress and property damage to their vehicle.
What are Damages Caps
Many states have enacted damages caps to limit the total amount of payouts in personal injury or medical malpractice cases. The reasons given for this type of tort reform are to limit costs to insurance companies and medical providers (who will, in turn, not pass those costs off to consumers), control over eager plaintiffs, and allow juries to focus on the merits of the cases themselves instead of the amount of money they might award. Injured parties disagree and believe the damage awards determined by a jury in their case is what they are due.
Damages caps are often different for the different types of damages that a jury can award. For example, plaintiffs can be awarded the cost of medical care or other economic damages suffered as a result of the injuries. Plaintiffs can also be awarded with punitive damages which are meant to punish the person found to be at fault for the injury.
Some states do not permit attorneys to inform the jury of the damages cap in essence of fairness. As a result, the jury could award a higher total damage amount than the damages cap allows, but then the jury award will then be reduced by the judge down to the maximum amount that is mandated by law in their jurisdiction.
If you are considering filing a personal injury or medical malpractice lawsuit, make sure you speak to an experienced personal injury attorney in your area who can advise you about the law of your state involving damages caps.
Related Resources:
- Independent Medical Examination (FindLaw’s Learn About the Law)
- State Law Summaries: Medical Malpractice and Reform (FindLaw’s Learn About the Law)
- Economic Recovery for Accidents and Injuries (FindLaw’s Learn About the Law)
