Thursday, May 24, 2007
North Carolina House Passes Med Mal Cap
WRAL in North Carolina reports that the North Carolina House passed a bill that would cap monetary damages in negligence cases against doctors and hospitals at $1 million. The bill allows parties to select binding arbitration with monetary damages limited to $1 million. Interestingly, the North Carolina Medical Society (the doctors) joined forces with the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers (the lawyers) to support the bill.
- SBS
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/tortsprof/2007/05/north_carolina_.html
The reason NCATL agreed to it is that it's not a cap: both sides have to agree to arbitrate the case, at which point the cap takes effect. I'm not sure why a bill is needed to accomplish voluntary arbitration, but I see nothing in the press coverage of the bill that indicates that it accomplishes anything other than what was already available in the status quo.
Posted by: Ted | May 24, 2007 5:46:59 AM