Relating to civil actions, including recoverable damages for medical expenses, evidence offered to prove past medical expenses, and civil actions related to the novel coronavirus, and including retroactive applicability provisions

This bill relates to civil actions, including the total amount of noneconomic damages recoverable in a civil action for personal injury or death against a health care provider, recoverable damages for medical expenses, and evidence offered to prove past medical expenses. Current law limits to $250,000 the amount of noneconomic damages recoverable for any occurrence resulting in injury or death of a patient regardless of the number of plaintiffs, derivative claims, theories of liability, or defendants in the civil action, unless the jury determines that there is a substantial or permanent loss or impairment of a bodily function, substantial disfigurement, or death, which warrants a finding that imposition of such a limitation would deprive the plaintiff of just compensation for the injuries sustained. Current law also provides that the limitation on damages shall not apply as to a defendant if the defendant’s actions constituted actual malice. The bill increases the limitation from $250,000 to $750,000. The bill also eliminates the exception to the new limitation of $750,000 that would allow the jury to determine if the imposition of such a limitation would deprive the plaintiff of just compensation for the injuries sustained. Under the bill, “noneconomic damages” means damages arising from pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, loss of chance, loss of consortium, or any other nonpecuniary damages. The bill provides that evidence offered to prove past medical expenses shall be limited to evidence of the amounts that were actually paid to satisfy medical bills that have been satisfied and evidence of the amounts necessary to satisfy medical bills that have not yet been satisfied. The bill additionally provides that evidence of the amounts actually necessary to satisfy medical bills that have been incurred shall not exceed the amount by which the medical bills could be satisfied by the claimant’s health insurance, regardless of whether such health insurance is used or will be used to satisfy the medical bills. The bill does not impose an affirmative duty to seek a reduction in billed charges to which the party is not contractually entitled. Finally, the bill limits the damages that may be recovered in a personal injury action. The bill provides the damages that may be recovered by a claimant for the reasonable and necessary cost of medical care rendered shall not exceed the sum of the amounts actually paid by or on behalf of the injured person to the health care providers who rendered treatment and any amounts necessary to satisfy the medical care charges that have been incurred but not yet satisfied.136, which applies to malpractice actions against certain medical professionals and hospitals.