Justices toss liability limits from November ballot
LITTLE ROCK—Arkansas' Supreme Court said Thursday that voters won't be able to consider award limits in medical liability cases because the language outlining the plan on the November ballot doesn't fully describe what the proposal would do.
Ballots have already been printed, so the court directed that no votes be counted on the proposal. Under the plan's provisions, legislators would have been allowed to cap non-economic damages against health care providers for medical injuries at a minimum of $250,000.
Proposal supporters argued that the limits were needed to control health care costs. But in a unanimous decision, the court said the proposal's supporters never said what "non-economic damages" meant and ruled that it would be wrong to ask voters to take a stab at a definition.
"We have disapproved the use of terms that are technical and not readily understood by voters, such that voters would be placed in a position of either having to be an expert in the subject or having to guess as to the effect his or her vote would have," Justice Paul E. Danielson wrote in the ruling.
Read more: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2016/oct/14/justices-toss-liability-limits-november-ballot/644584/