The Florida Supreme Court has been tasked with deciding whether damages caps apply retroactively to a patient-plaintiff who suffered injuries before the caps were in place, according to a Jacksonville Business Journal report.
Although the Florida Supreme Court got rid of damages caps in medical malpractice suits in March by concluding the caps violated the state Constitution's equal protection clause, the new case before the court concerns issues that occurred while the caps were still in place.
In 2003, Kimberly Miles filed a medical malpractice case alleging she had received a medically unnecessary surgery on her leg. A jury awarded her $1.5 million in noneconomic damages, but the lower courts reduced the damages to $500,000 to be in compliance with damages caps that were passed in the state in 2003 after Ms. Miles was injured, according to the report.
Ms. Miles' attorneys are arguing the court's retroactive application of the caps violates constitutional due-process rights. However, attorneys for the physician named as a defendant in the case are arguing the legislature included the possibility of retroactivity in the 2003 law, according to the report.
The Florida Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case June 4.
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