According to the data recently released by Barbara J. Rouse, the chief justice of the Superior Court, and first reported by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, 485 cases were filed last year, down by about 4% from 504 new cases filed in 2007. New case filings slid by 32% from 708 in 2000.
Lawyers attribute the decrease in filings in most years since 2000 to the low percentage of plaintiffs’ verdicts, hospitals’ efforts to communicate more effectively with patients and families after an adverse medical outcome and a 2004 Massachusetts law change that decreased interest payments on legal judgments.
