A judge in Chicago struck down the state's 2005 medical liability law today finding that its limits on pain and suffering awards in medical malpractice cases are unconstitutional.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane Joan Larsen said she based her ruling concerning non-economic damages on the 1997 Best case decision (Best v. Taylor Machine Works) by the Illinois Supreme Court, which overturned a law setting compensatory damage caps.

The Illinois Supreme Court in the prior case found that a cap violated the separation of powers clause of the state constitution by removing judicial authority and encroached “upon the fundamentally judicial prerogative of determining whether a jury's assessment of damages is excessive within the meaning of the law.”

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