The 2022 legislative session produced a major victor for plaintiff-side personal injury with the removal of the long-standing $250,000 cap on medical malpractice cases. New caps have been set with annual incremental increases and future plans for inflation adjustment.
Effective Jan. 1, 2023, AB 35 raises the cap on pain and suffering damages in medical mal practice cases to $500,000 for suits involving a wrongful death claim, with that cap increasing by $50,000 each year until it reaches $1 million. For cases that don’t involve a wrongful death claim, the cap starts at $350,000 and increases annually by $40,000 until it reaches $750,000. Once those limits are reached, the law adjusts them for annual inflation by 2 percent starting Jan. 1, 2034.