FL Supreme Court Overturns Statutory Cap on Non-Economic Damages

In a long-awaited decision, the Florida Supreme Court has announced its ruling in the matter of Estate of McCall v. United States of America, 2014 Fla. LEXIS 933 (Fla. Mar. 13, 2014), holding that the Florida statutory cap on wrongful death noneconomic damages violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Florida State Constitution. The lengthy procedural course in McCall, including decisions by the federal Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and Florida's highest state court, provided arguments for both sides of a broader tort reform battle still underway in our nation's appellate courts. Grounded in a tragic factual setting both unforgettable and difficult to accept in the context of 21st-century medical care, the McCall court's decision is equally remarkable for its rationale, in which the plurality decision engaged in extensive fact-finding related to Florida's “alleged medical malpractice crisis.”