Court rules Lousiana liability limit unconstitutional

Doctors say the appellate ruling addresses only the amount of the cap and might not eliminate it altogether.

By Amy Lynn Sorrel, AMNews staff. Oct. 23/30, 2006.

After three decades, Louisiana's $500,000 overall damage cap in medical liability cases has hit a snag after a narrow appeals court ruling that declared the award limit unconstitutional because it does not provide the same monetary protection for patients that it did 31 years ago.

In a 3-2 opinion, the state's Third Circuit Court of Appeal found that the $500,000 award, established in 1975, would be worth only $160,000 in today's dollars. The court said it would need to be raised to $1.6 million or $1.7 million to give patients the same relief they received when the law passed.

"In either case, we find the current $500,000 cap fails to provide an adequate remedy to today's severely injured plaintiffs and thus, is unconstitutional," Judge Elizabeth A. Pickett wrote for the majority.

The case is being appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

In a dissenting opinion, however, Judge Sylvia R. Cooks noted that the high court upheld the cap in a 1992 decision. "The fact is judges are not free to devise new rules of interpretation to avoid existing legislation and judicial precedent upholding the validity of statutes," Cooks wrote.

In the 1992 decision, justices ruled that as an offset to the award limit, the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act established a state patient compensation fund that gives injured patients a guaranteed source of recovery for medical care and related expenses.

Under the cap, doctors who contribute to the fund would be responsible for paying the first $100,000 of a judgment, after which the fund would cover the remaining $400,000. The act does not limit future medical expenses, which the fund also would cover.