Special E-Mail Bulletin
April 2006 -- Medical Malpractice Reform in Florida
Special E-Mail Bulletin
Hello, everyone.
Some news out of Florida may be of interest to you in other states. Maybe this is an indication of things to come in other states???
Last month the Florida Legislature put through a change to Florida's medical malpractice regulations. The change eliminated "joint and several liability."
Joint and several liability creates a situation where every defendant in a suit can be held fully responsible for the amount of any damages regardless of that defendant's relative responsibility. This then turned cases effectively into financial "witch hunts" where plaintiffs would sue everyone in an attempt to find the most lucrative defendants (otherwise known as chasing after the "deep pockets").
According to the April 11 issue of Florida Medical Business, "HB145 eliminates language that allowed joint and several liability to be applied to economic damages and replaces it with comparative fault instead. As a result, liability is based on degree of fault, as is the case with non-economic damages today. Until now, though, joint and several liability has applied to economic damages, such as ongoing medical bills."
A report issued by Governor Bush's task force noted that "...modern times and fundamental fairness dictate the apportionment of fault among all parties who cause the harm to the plaintiff for both economic and non-economic damages."
The report also stated "The fact that one defendant may be insolvent or for other reasons immune from payment of damages should not shift the burden to another defendant to fund the total amount of damages, beyond the degree of fault to that defendant."
The Bill will go into effect on the day it is signed, and Governor Bush has indicated he will sign it.
In a state that is plagued by out-of-control malpractice premiums, this seems to be a breath of fresh air.
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