Judge Declines Medical Malpractice Caps

In Maryland earlier this month, a Montgomery County judge in a powerful strike against Med Mal caps, declined to cap the non-economic damages in a multimillion-dollar medical malpractice verdict, saying the state's limit on such awards applies only to lawsuits that were first submitted to arbitration.

As any trial lawyer, particularly those involved in medical malpractice is aware, the wave of damage limits and med mal caps that swept through the states in the 1990s and early part of the new century profoundly impacted the types of cases attorney's would take on. The steady chipping away at these caps in court and in the legislature now that people see the impact it has on equitable reimbursement to injured parties for damages is a story we will be following for the rest of 2009.

Scott Drake talks with the plaintiff's attorney Patrick Malone about how this case was handled, the implications on medical malpractice in Maryland and whether or not this represents a major change in how the courts look at caps: