Margaret Atkinson Martin
Director of Client Services
225.376.3640
margaret.martin@bswllp.com

Jennifer Sims
jennifer.sims@bswllp.com

Industry Alerts

The Supreme Court of Illinois has recently held that an Illinois statute that limits the amount of non-economic damages available to plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases violates the state constitution’s separation of powers clause. The Court defined “non-economic damages” as being intangible damages that can include damages for pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, loss of consortium, and loss of society. In reaching its decision, the Court reasoned that the statutory limitation “unduly encroaches upon the fundamentally judicial prerogative of determining whether a jury’s assessment of damages is excessive within the meaning of the law.”

Louisiana has a similar statute that limits the total amount recoverable by medical malpractice plaintiffs to $500,000, exclusive of future medical costs. That statute was enacted in 1975, and despite the effects of inflation, the $500,000 cap has not been increased since that time.

The constitutionality of Louisiana’s statute has been challenged by parties and analyzed by courts on numerous occasions. In 2007, the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal held, on two separate occasions, that the monetary limitation was in fact unconstitutional. The Louisiana Supreme Court later vacated both of those decisions on other legal bases. Thus, a plaintiff’s award for medical malpractice is still capped at $500,000 in Louisiana, and notwithstanding the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling, Louisiana courts are unlikely to deem the Louisiana statute unconstitutional in the near future.