Legislators' Conflict Extends Fla. Malpractice Session

Legislators' Conflict Extends Fla. Malpractice Session

NU Online News Service, June 21, 12:25 p.m. EDT?Florida's effort to reform its medical malpractice system has gone into overtime thanks to a clash between the State Senate and House over caps on pain and suffering awards.

Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, who called the special legislative session in Tallahassee to deal with reforms for the medical malpractice litigation, extended it yesterday to June 27 after disagreements surfaced.

The key sticking point between the two chambers, both of which are controlled by Republicans, is the cap on non-economic damages, said William Stander, government affairs representative for the Southeast region for the Downers Grove, Ill.-based Alliance of American Insurers.

"The Senate's version of the bill contains a 'soft' cap of $500,000 per defendant for non-economic [pain and suffering] damages, which can be 'pierced' and go to $2 million for certain catastrophic injuries," said Mr. Stander. Such injuries, which are listed in the bill, include coma, paralysis, blindness, brain injury and injury that causes death.

"On the other hand, the House bill has a straight $250,000 cap," Mr. Stander said.

Another bone of contention is Gov. Bush's proposal for a change to the law concerning bad-faith claims against insurers. Under the governor's proposal, a third-party would not have the right to bring a bad-faith claim against an insurer for refusing to settle. Neither the House nor the Senate version contains this strong a prohibition against such claims, according to Mr. Stander.

Also being debated are structured settlement payments. Under the House version, an insurer has to have a Best rating of A-plus or higher to participate in a structured settlement. The Senate version contains no such requirement.