The Missouri Supreme Court yesterday struck down a state law that caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases at $350,000. It declared that the law infringed on a person’s right to trial by jury, which includes the right to have a jury set damages. The ruling, one of several recent setbacks for proponents of tough tort reform measures, illustrates the risk inherent in passing a federal law that would limit what a victorious plaintiff can receive in non-economic damages. Such a law, supported by organized medicine and congressional Republicans to curb supposedly frivolous suits and extravagant jury awards, theoretically could be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court (Lowes, 8/1).
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