What is tort reform?

Answer:

Tort reform is variety of ideas and laws that are designed by big business and the insurance industry to limit the recovery of the Plaintiff in a personal injury case. Most commonly, we see tort reform in the medical malpractice field.

Tort reform ideas include:

• Limiting an injured person’s right or access to a jury trial by requiring that cases be tried before a medical panel first,
• Placing an arbitrary cap on the injured person’s right to recovery for non-economic damages (pain and suffering)
• Placing an arbitrary cap on the injured person’s right to recover for all damages (Virginia a $1.85 million cap for recovery in medical malpractice cases regardless of what your medical bills or lifetime care plan totals)
• Imposing a system where the loser in a lawsuit has to pay all of the winner’s litigation costs