He has played a U.S. President on film and a U.S. Senator in real life, and made a serious run for the Presidency in 2008. Now actor and statesman Fred Thompson has come out in opposition of Tennessee's HB 2008, a bill which would impose damages caps and make other "reforms" at the expense of injured persons and their families.
HB 2008 would place a limit on noneconomic damages of $750,000 per occurrence in medical malpractice cases. This means that even if multiple people were injured - a mother and child in a birth injury, for instance - no more than $750,000 total could be awarded for pain and suffering, emotional distress, and similar damages. In other personal injury cases, the cap is placed at $750,000 per plaintiff. HB 2008 also caps punitive damages to the greater of $500,000 or double the amount of compensatory damages awarded. The cap would be eliminated altogether where the defendant committed a felony or was under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs at the time of the injury.
This bill would also disallow compensatory damages to the extent that charges have been discounted by an insurer, an issue that was brought forward in Colorado this year but died in committee. (See last month's blog)
An amendment to the bill would raise the cap to $1.25 million in some cases, including certain spinal cord injury, amputation, burn injuries, or the death of a parent leaving minor children.
Thompson is lobbying for changes in the bill to make the access to justice broader for more people, rather than narrower, as the bill would accomplish. For instance, Thompson would like to see brain injuries added to the list of cases in which the cap is raised. As an attorney who handled personal injury claims early in his legal career, Thompson knows that damages in individual cases of medical malpractice or other misconduct can easily exceed a blanket cap that applies to all.
As of this writing, HB 2008 is awaiting a vote in the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee. At Paulsen & Armitage, LLC, we monitor developments in medical malpractice law in Colorado and nationwide to always stay on the leading edge of trends and changes in the law, in order to help fulfill our mission of providing our clients with the highest quality legal service. If you or a loved one has been injured in a case involving medical malpractice or other personal injury, contact Paulsen & Armitage, LLC.
