Lawsuit overview and legal considerations

Civil Law

The right to file a lawsuit protects people because it gives them a forum for redress of wrongs that do not rise to the level of crimes. Without the right to file a civil lawsuit, victims would have to depend upon other forms of social coercion to seek redress. However, many wrongdoers do not respond to social pressures, so that system would leave victims helpless. Making all transgressions crimes would provide an unworkable solution, because it would minimize the social stigma of truly egregious behavior and would clog the criminal justice system in such a way as to render it relatively useless. Finally, civil lawsuits address situations where damages of some sort can make a party whole, which is frequently not the case in a criminal context.

Unfortunately, the civil law process can be abused because the parties are individuals, which removes the social control that exists in the criminal legal process. Individuals can file frivolous or harassing lawsuits, knowing that a party might choose to settle, rather than incur the expense of going to trial. The civil law is also complicated, which gives people with access to lawyers- generally people for higher socio-economic groups, an advantage in lawsuits.

3. Without knowing what type of malpractice was alleged, it is impossible to say whether or not a $40,000,000 award is excessive. Obviously, if the doctors were following established medical procedures and the patient died, such an award seems ridiculous. However, if the doctors lied about the treatment being received or refused to treat a patient because of a personal characteristic, such as race or religion, then such a huge award would send a message to other doctors not to engage in such behavior. While capping award amounts in medical malpractice suits seems tempting, the fact is that some acts of malpractice result in the need for expensive lifelong treatment for the victim, which may not be covered under those caps. Therefore, medical malpractice lawsuits should not be burdened by recovery caps.