Insurers in Tennessee will payout fewer damages in medical malpractice cases under a new cap on damages that took effect last month. The law also protects insurers from being sued under the state’s consumer protection law.
The new law places a cap of $750,000 on non-economic damages such as pain and suffering and a $500,000 cap on punitive damages in medical malpractice and personal injury cases. It also places a $1 million cap on catastrophic cases in instances where a person becomes paralyzed, burned, blinded, suffered an amputation or otherwise died leaving behind minor children.
The law also excludes insurers from paying punitive damages in product liability actions unless the seller had substantial control over the design and manufacturing of the product or had actual knowledge of the defect.
Another law change removes insurers from the provisions of the state’s consumer protection act. The Tennessee Supreme Court in a 1998 case, Myint. v Allstate Insurance Co., ruled that insurers could be sued under the state’s consumer protection act. Prior to that case, insurers could only be sued under the state’s insurance code. The new law reverses Myiant v. Allstate.
Topics Tennessee
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