Georgia Supreme Court Holds Tort Reform Caps Unconstitutional
Today the Georgia Supreme Court held in Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery v. Nestlehutt that the limits on pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases violates the constitutional right to trial by jury. In a unanimous opinion, the Court found that the noneconomic damages caps in O.C.G.A. 51-13-1 of the 2005 Tort Reform bill, violate the right of a jury to determine the amount of damages to be awarded a plaintiff.
Although, recognizing that the caps were enacted by the Georgia Legislature to address "what the General Assembly determined to be a 'crisis affecting the provision and quality of health care services in this state,'" the Court specifically concluded, "The very existence of the caps, in any amount, is violative of the right to trial by jury."
What does this mean to plaintiffs involved in pending medical malpractice cases? Because a law that is unconstitutional was unconstitutional from its start, the caps limitation will be rolled back retroactively. Any lawsuits still before the courts, even if filed prior to the Nestlehutt opinion and after the 2005 Tort Reform Bill, will not be subject to the caps limitations of $350,000 for any verdict against one or more physicians and $350,000 for each verdict against a hospital or healthcare facility up to $750,000 and a maximum total against all physicians, hospitals and health care facilities of $1,050,000.
With the passage of the Healthcare Reform bill yesterday and the striking down of the caps on medical malpractice cases in Georgia today, this is will be an interesting week full of commentary and opinion regarding the state of healthcare in Georgia.
