Med mal caps coming home to roost
The wave of caps on medical malpractice damages passed in 2003 and 2004 are starting to have a dramatic impact on the ability of injured patients to find a lawyer in more states than just Texas. The Las Vegas Business Press reports that experienced Nevada trial lawyers are abandoning medical malpractice litigation in droves thanks to changes in the state's law that cap lawyers' fees and make it harder to prosecute such cases.
Lawyers quoted also believe the battle over the med mal has poisoned the jury pool. So far this year in one judicial district, only 2 out of 18 med mal cases that went to trial have resulted in plaintiff verdicts. In 2001, before the ballot initiative, juries in the same county returned 8 of 14 trial verdicts in favor of plaintiffs.
The story also cites the case of a man whose wife was allegedly killed from malpractice who now owes $40K to the defense lawyers after losing at trial. I was a little perplexed by this. Does Nevada now have loser pays in med mal cases? I suspect the reporter got this wrong, but it's an interesting story about the trends nonetheless.
Do you have any more information on that Nevada case? Perhaps the plaintiff was sanctioned.
Posted by: Aaron | December 30, 2006 at 05:07 PM