Pennsylvania recently amended its long-standing law regarding joint and several liablity. Joint and several liability applies when more than one party is responsible for an injury. Under the old law, any party at least one percent at fault was jointly and individually liable for all of the damages. This protected the injured victim when the most responsible party had insufficient insurance or assets. This has now changed with the recent amendments. The joint and several liability amendments limit the liability of a defendant who is less than 60% at fault to his proportionate share of liability. Under the amendments’ language, however, … [Read more...]
Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Filings Decrease Dramatically
April 8, 2010 by
From 2003 to 2008, lawsuits for medical malpractice cases in Pennsylvania decreased 37% to 41% from the average number of cases filed in 2000 to 2002. This information is from statistics compiled by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Also according to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, for 2008, the most recent year available, the doctor, hospital or other medical provider won in over 81% of the medical malpractice lawsuits filed. Here in western Pennsylvania, the medical providers also won the malpractice lawsuits most of the time. For instance, in Allegheny County the jury found in favor of the medical provider in 14 … [Read more...]
