City Tort Reform

AMNews: Aug. 9, 2004. Two Illinois towns take tort reform into their own hands ... American Medical News The Carbondale City Council July 6 passed an ordinance that includes caps on noneconomic damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice cases. The measure also requires that such lawsuits be filed in the county where the alleged malpractice took place. Carbondale inspired its neighbor Marion, population 16,624, which managed to pass its ordinance first, on June 28. Nearby Herrin -- home to 11,406 -- passed a resolution supporting Carbondale's action, and Mount Vernon, a community of 16,486, was considering a local ordinance at press time. No one is certain that the measures -- believed to be the first of their kind -- would hold up before the Illinois Supreme Court, which in the 1990s struck down a state law that capped noneconomic damage awards.