Text of amendment on medical lawsuits
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the text that would appear on the Nov. 8 general election ballot for an amendment on medical lawsuits.
POPULAR NAME The Lawsuit Reform Amendment of 2016: An Amendment to Limit Attorney Contingency Fees and Non- Economic Damages in Medical Lawsuits Ballot Title
An amendment to the Arkansas constitution providing that the practice of contracting for or charging excessive contingency fees in the course of legal representation of any person seeking damages in an action for medical injury against a health- care provider is hereby prohibited; providing that an excessive medical- injury contingency fee is greater than thirty- three and one- third percent ( 33 1/ 3%) of the amount recovered; providing that, for the purposes of calculating the amount recovered, the figure that shall be used is the net sum recovered after deducting any disbursements or costs incurred in connection with prosecution or settlement of the medical- injury claim; providing that this limitation shall apply whether the recovery is by settlement, arbitration, or judgment; providing that this limitation shall apply regardless of the age or mental capacity of the plaintiff; providing that the prohibition of excessive medical-injury fees does not apply to workers’ compensation cases; providing that the General Assembly may enact legislation which enforces this prohibition, and that it may also enact legislation that determines the relative values of time payments or periodic payments and governs the consequences and penalties for attorneys who contract for or charge excessive medical-injury contingency fees; providing that the General Assembly shall enact a measure which specifies a maximum dollar amount for anon-economic damage award in any action for medical injury against a healthcare provider, but that such a measure may never be smaller than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000); providing that the General Assembly may, after such enactment, amend it by a vote of two- thirds of each house, but that no such amendment may reduce the maximum dollar amount for a non- economic damage award in any action for medical injury against any health- care provider to less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($ 250,000); providing that the Supreme Court shall adjust this figure for inflation or deflation on a biennial basis; and providing that this amendment does not supersede or amend the right to trial by jury.