California Assembly Bill 35, which was signed into effect in May 2022 by Governor Gavin Newsom, adjusts the maximum awards a patient or decedent can receive for non-economic damages in a California medical malpractice case, accounting for rising medical costs and the victim's best interests.
Now that Assembly Bill 35 passed, starting in 2023, the non-economic damages cap will be $350,000 in non-death cases and half a million dollars in wrongful death cases. Then the caps will increase incrementally through 2033 to $750,000 in non-death cases to $1 million in wrongful death cases.
The new caps apply to all cases initiated on or after that date. For 2023, the caps are set at $350,000 for malpractice-related injuries that do not involve wrongful death, and $500,000 for medical malpractice that resulted in wrongful death.
The CRJA has an ambitious goal: rooting out racism from the criminal legal system. This law allows defendants to challenge more surreptitious forms of implicit and institutional racism in their cases.
