A U.S. magistrate judge has concluded that the cap the Texas Legislature set on non-economic damages in health-care liability suits is constitutional.
In his Sept. 13 “Report and Recommendation,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Everingham IV of the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall concluded that the defendant health-care providers and the state, which intervened in Watson, et al. v. Hortman, et al. ,are entitled to summary judgment that the Medical Malpractice and Tort Reform Act of 2003 does not violate the plaintiffs’ constitutional right of access to the courts and the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
