Estate of Michelle Evette McCall, Petitioners v. United States of America, Respondent — Pariente, J…

Summary

Justice Pariente concurred in the result that Florida's aggregate cap on noneconomic damages in medical-malpractice wrongful-death actions violates the Florida Constitution's equal-protection guarantee as applied to this case. She agreed that the cap's reduction of damages based on the number of survivors lacks a rational relationship to the goal of reducing malpractice premiums, but disagreed that a court may independently reweigh legislative evidence absent a showing that the Legislature's factual findings were clearly erroneous. Justice Polston, dissenting, would have upheld the cap and rejected all four constitutional challenges.