AMNews: Sept. 28, 2009. Challenges to medical liability caps go before Georgia, Maryland high courts ... American Medical News

Doctors say the cases threaten to destabilize liability climates and highlight the need for tort reform to be part of federal health system reform.

High courts in Georgia and Maryland will decide the fate of caps on noneconomic damages in medical liability cases in each state, two of the latest attempts to undo such award limits.

The Georgia Supreme Court case stems from a February trial court decision rejecting the constitutionality of the state's $350,000 cap. Oral arguments began Sept. 15 in Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery v. Nestlehutt.

Maryland's Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments Nov. 5 on whether the state's caps apply only to cases that are arbitrated.
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