Study: Four Out of 10 Medical Malpractice Cases are Groundless
National News • May 11, 2006
About 40 percent of the medical malpractice cases filed in the United States are groundless, according to a Harvard analysis of the hotly debated issue that pits trial lawyers against doctors, ...
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Subject: Personal Injury Tort Reform
Posted On: May 14, 2006, 5:06 pm CDT
Posted By: George from OZ
Comment:
Tort reform in 2002, in the State of New South Wales, Australia, introduced many changes from the basic Common Law system that prevailed until then. Amongst many changes were:
1. a 15% of a worst case threshold before there is an entitlement to claim (a worst case being defined as a brain damaged quad);
2. caps on damages, including future loss of income and care;
3. a cost penalty against a lawyer who serves a frivolous claim, or cross claim - this penalty being imposed by a judge against the lawyer personally, not his law firm.
These reforms have not only lifted the ethics of Plaintiff lawyers but reduced the number of litigated injury claims (including med mal) by over 60%
Insurance companies are happy, and their clients are happy with their reduced premiums. But the Plaintiff and insurer lawyers are feeling the pain, and those Plaintiff lawyers who have copped a personal cost order are in absolute agony.
Subject: Personal Injury Tort Reform
1. a 15% of a worst case threshold before there is an entitlement to claim (a worst case being defined as a brain damaged quad);
2. caps on damages, including future loss of income and care;
3. a cost penalty against a lawyer who serves a frivolous claim, or cross claim - this penalty being imposed by a judge against the lawyer personally, not his law firm.
These reforms have not only lifted the ethics of Plaintiff lawyers but reduced the number of litigated injury claims (including med mal) by over 60%
Insurance companies are happy, and their clients are happy with their reduced premiums. But the Plaintiff and insurer lawyers are feeling the pain, and those Plaintiff lawyers who have copped a personal cost order are in absolute agony.