Initiative to raise medical malpractice damages cap qualifies for 2022 ballot

An initiative to raise the cap on medical malpractice cases in California has qualified for the November 2022 ballot, according to Secretary of State Alex Padilla's office.

The proposed Fairness for Injured Patients Act, known as FIPA, takes on a 1975 law, the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA). It would raise MICRA's cap for non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases from $250,000 to more than $1.1 million, with adjustments for inflation thereafter.

Doctors groups, insurers and others have long opposed changes to MICRA, arguing the law keeps medical malpractice insurance rates down and reduces overall medical costs. Lisa Maas is the executive director of Californians Allied for Patient Protection, a pro-MICRA group whose members include the California Medical Association and other organizations.

"It's unfortunate that while California's health providers are courageously working on the front lines of this pandemic, a few opportunistic trial lawyers have remained focused on a ballot measure that would substantially increase the burden on California's doctors and clinics while inflating health care costs for everyone," Maas said in an email Wednesday. "Whether it's 2020 or 2022, any ballot measure that reduces access to health care and increases costs for all Californians is bad medicine."

According to a brief press release sent out by Padilla's office Tuesday, proponents needed "623,212 valid petition signatures, which is equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2018 General Election." A random sampling of the signatures indicated a sufficient number of them were valid to clear a higher threshold -- 685,534 signatures, equal to 110% of the necessary minimum -- needed to avoid a full verification process.

The effort is being pushed by Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court and plaintiffs' attorney Nicholas C. Rowley of Carpenter, Zuckerman & Rowley in Beverly Hills. Rowley has also sued Attorney General Xavier Becerra, claiming the damages limit violates patients' rights. Mosley v. Becerra, 20STCV12669 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed April 1, 2020).

They had originally filed to put the initiative on the ballot this November. They announced April 30 the effort would be delayed two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"We did it because we didn't want to have COVID being part of the debate," Court said Wednesday. "It does create interesting opportunities for a legislative solution because we have the opportunity to withdraw the initiative up through June 2022."

Efforts aimed at getting the Legislature to change the law has failed for decades.