In a ruling that likely will please most Illinois injury attorneys, the state Supreme Court struck down an Illinois medical malpractice law that caps damages at $500,000 in cases against doctors and $1 million in cases against hospitals, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Attorneys, employers, health care industry executives and other interested parties had been eagerly anticipating the ruling, in which state Justices decided that the 2005 law violates the separation of powers (PDF, Illinois Supreme Court).
Other states, including California, passed similar laws capping malpractice lawsuit damages several years ago. But Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald, writing for the majority, dismissed precedent from other states in his written opinion:
"That 'everybody is doing it' is hardly a litmus test for the constitutionality of the statute."
Although damages claimed in malpractice will no longer be capped through statute, judges still have the discretion to reduce verdicts he or she deems unreasonably expensive, according to the article. Justice Fitzgerald reasons that statutory limits on damages take this discretion away from judges, thus violating the separation of powers.
Separation of powers refers to the balance among the executive, legislative and judicial branches meant to prevent tyranny by any one branch or individual, according to FindLaw's LawBrain. For example, laws passed by the Illinois legislature become law only if signed by Governor Pat Quinn.
The case itself, Abigaile Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, came on appeal from Cook County Circuit Court, in which an appellate judge ruled that caps were unconstitutional. Lebron was 13-months old when her namesake case was filed; she suffered a brain injury during birth.
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