CJAC Urges CA Supreme Court to Uphold Med-Mal Damages Cap
CJAC Liability Reform Insider (March 2021) – On March 1, CJAC
filed an amicus brief with the California Supreme Court
in Marisol Lopez v. Glenn Ledesma, M.D., et al.,
S262487.
In this case, at bench trial the plaintiff won $11,200 for
economic damages and $4.25 million in non-economic damages in her
medical malpractice action for the death of her four-year-old
daughter. The court then reduced the non-economic damage award to
$250,000 pursuant to MICRA.
The appellate court affirmed the judgment, ruling that the
physician assistant practices are within the “scope of services”
covered by the supervising physician’s license, even if the
supervising physician did not provide adequate supervision.
Plaintiff petitioned for review, which the court granted.
In our amicus brief, we argue that acceptance of the
plaintiff/petitioner’s position would cleave a huge gap in the
MICRA cap and have drastic consequences for the provision of
affordable medical liability insurance and the delivery of health
care services, a slide back to the bleak conditions that prompted
MICRA’s enactment.