North Broward Hospital District v. Susan Kalitan, Appellee

Summary

The court affirmed the decision invalidating Florida's statutory caps on noneconomic damages in personal-injury medical-negligence actions. Applying rational-basis review, it held that the caps arbitrarily reduce compensation for the most severely injured plaintiffs and lack a rational relationship to the Legislature's stated objective of alleviating a medical-malpractice insurance crisis. Justice Polston, dissenting, would have upheld the caps because a conceivable rational relationship to healthcare affordability and availability was sufficient.