The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a tort reform bill that some lawyers’ groups said would limit noneconomic damages to cases across the nation at $250,000 and possibly “eviscerate” certain cases against medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The Protecting Access to Care Act of 2017 would impose the damages cap in states that have either rejected similar legislation or where courts have struck down such limits as unconstitutional. The American Association for Justice, the nation’s largest plaintiffs bar organization, cited that 18 states have no cap on noneconomic damages, which compensate for pain and suffering. Those states include Pennsylvania, Georgia, New York and Florida, where the state’s Supreme Court ruled this month that a cap in a medical malpractice case involving wrongful death claims was unconstitutional.
