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Attorney Fees Come Under Attack From House Republicans

April 7, 2011 | Posted in : Contingency Fees / POF, Legislation / Politics

A recent BLT blog post, “Proposed Caps on Fees and Damages in Malpractice Cases Debated at House Hearing” reports that legislation, H.R. 5, introduced by House Republicans, would cap attorney fees to the nation’s medical malpractice laws.  Section 5 of H.R. 5, The Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-cost, Timely Healthcare Act of 2011 (pdf) would impose limits on contingency fees in medical malpractice cases that range from 40% of the plaintiff’s recovery up to $50,000 to a maximum of 15% of any recovery over $600,000.

Brian Wolfman, a visiting professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, said the bill would undermine public safety by limiting attorney fees and possibly prevent lawsuits from being filed by patients who have been injured as a result of medical negligence.  “The free market works reasonably well in individual lawsuits, where the client’s interest in maximizing recovery and the lawyer’s interest in a fair fee are well aligned and do not require the kind of micro-management and anti-free market regulation that H.R. 5 would impose,” Wolfman said in testimony before the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health.

What is more, the bill also includes a cap of $250,000 for noneconomic damages.  “The idea that $250,000 can fully compensate for these type of injuries – injuries that may last a lifetime – is, to be blunt, absurd.  And the fact that H.R. 5 fixes noneconomic damages at $250,000 forever, regardless of the impact of inflation, underscores the conclusion that the $250,000 cap is not a genuine attempt at gauging the impact on real people’s lives of noneconomic injuries,” Wolfman said.