ABA Family Legal Guide

Personal Injury

Negligence

Medical Malpractice

Can the jury get around the damages cap?

Usually. For that reason, some states do not allow lawyers or judges to tell the jurors that there is a damages cap. That way, the jurors will not be tempted to change their decision about other compensation for the victim. The point is to keep the legal process fair for both you and the doctor. For instance, let's say you live in a state where the cap is $100,000. The jury knows about the cap and decides that you suffered a minor injury. The jury may start with the $100,000 and decide that you deserve a quarter of that because your injury was minor. That leaves you with $25,000. If the jury had not known about the cap, they might have started with a figure of $500,000 and awarded you a quarter of that, which is $125,000. Because of the cap, you would only receive $100,000 of that award, but that would still be much more than the $25,000 you would have gotten if the jury knew of the cap.

On the other hand, it is not fair for the jury to award you a million dollars simply because they think the doctor's insurance will cover it, regardless of whether the doctor actually caused your injury. A sympathetic jury is not always a fair jury. The damages cap may protect the doctor from a jury that is disproportionately sympathetic toward you.