Tort reform challenges yield mixed results

In the Courts. By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Aug. 9, 2004.

Passing tort reform is similar to the birth of a child: There's excitement and celebration when the big event happens. After that, there's never-ending worry that it will safely make its way in the world.

Parents worry about their child's health and safety. Tort reform advocates worry that court challenges that could suck the life out of the reforms lurk around every corner.

Some states haven't had much luck getting their newly passed laws off the ground. On the first challenge of new laws in Illinois and Ohio, state supreme courts struck them down.

But even in states where the courts initially held that noneconomic damage caps and other reforms were legal, physicians expect challenges to keep coming.

Among the six states in which the American Medical Association says strong tort reform is helping keep medical liability insurance premiums at a reasonable level -- California, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, New Mexico and Wisconsin -- two state courts have recently re-examined tort reform. The results were mixed.

Sleepless nights are over in Wisconsin, at least for the moment.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court gave physicians there a huge victory, opining for 50 pages to uphold the state's limits on what juries can award for pain and suffering and loss of companionship.

In Indiana, the restlessness is just getting started as a challenge to tort reform will likely be appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court.