Maryland debate resumes over cap on non-economic damages after extended testimony

Delegate Natalie Ziegler opened the Judiciary Committee hearing on House Bill 113 by asking the panel for a favorable report on her bill to repeal Maryland's cap on non-economic damages in personal injury and wrongful death cases.

Her testimony and a lengthy panel that followed framed the dispute as a choice between restoring juries' full authority to compensate victims for pain and suffering and preserving a state limit lawmakers put in place when Maryland faced an insurance crisis decades ago.

Supporters included plaintiffs' attorneys, victims and advocacy groups who described cases in which juries awarded large sums for non-economic losses that were later reduced under the cap. Gwen Marie Davis of the Maryland Association for Justice and several trial lawyers recounted verdicts that, they said, were reduced and left seriously injured people with much smaller…