Archive for the ‘Illinois’ Category

Illinois. The Illinois Supreme Court has struck down a medical malpractice law enacted in 2005 that limited monetary damages for pain and suffering to $1 million from hospitals and $500,000 from doctors. The court said the law violates the state’s separation-of-powers clause between the branches of government by allowing lawmakers to interfere with a jury’s right to determine damages. According to the American Medical Association, courts in 16 states have upheld these types of laws, while those in 11 states have overturned them. For more information, visit http://www.state.il.us/court/.

ERISA preempted an Illinois state law outlawing any claim on a workers’ compensation award, because the law related to benefits plans regulated by ERISA, a federal trial court decided. As a result, an employer may seek reimbursement of group health plan funds from workers’ compensation awards. The health plan paid the expenses before a determination was made that the claims were work related. The court determined that the settlements included reimbursement for health expenses that were paid by the plan. At least one of the awards was worded to assert that it was not a payment for health benefits, but the judge said that was an effort to stop a recovery attempt. Read more