On August 6, a panel of judges on California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two, heard argument from CCL’s Senior Litigation Counsel Valerie M. Nannery that the state’s $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases violates the right to a jury trial under the state constitution. The appeal came after a jury determined that the plaintiffs were entitled to $3.75 million in damages for noneconomic injuries including permanent paralysis, pain and suffering, and loss of consortium. Under California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 (MICRA) cap, the trial judge reduced this portion of the jury’s verdict to $500,000: $250,000 for each plaintiff.

Nannery argued that, under the California Constitution and California Supreme Court precedent, the proper analysis of the right to trial by jury is an historical one. She argued that one of the most essential features of the right to jury trial is that the jury determines the facts, and damages in civil actions at common law are a question of fact. Nannery urged the court to use the historical analysis of the right to jury trial, as the highest courts in Oregon, Washington, Georgia and Missouri have, and hold that the MICRA cap violates the state’s “inviolate” right to trial by jury in civil actions.

The plaintiffs are represented by CCL’s Valerie M. Nannery, David Bricker of Waters Kraus & Paul in Los Angeles, CA, Burt Rosenblatt of Ely, Bettini, Ulman & Rosenblatt in Phoenix, AZ, and Steven B. Stevens in Los Angeles, CA. The case was fully submitted at the end of the August 6th hearing, and the parties await the court’s decision.