Is there a limit to the amount of money you can get for a medical negligence case in New York?

No, New York does not

No, New York does not currently place a cap on the amount of money recoverable in a medical malpractice case. Some states like California and Texas do have caps, but they are limited to the non-economic damages. For example, in California, a medical malpractice lawsuit cannot recover more than $250,000 for pain and suffering. However, the courts will allow as much as is necessary to cover lost income and medical expenses.

One case in California ended up with a court award for $9.9 million, because the plaintiff was a young executive who was earning a large salary. After his wrongful death, his family sued for all of the income that he would have earned had he not died due to the medical negligence.

Fortunately for residents of New York, even if your economic damages are not that large, you can recover a large settlement or award amount for the suffering that the medical negligence and resulting injury has caused you. This also helps medical malpractice lawyers take on more cases, because in some situations, the lawsuit would cost too much to prosecute if the award amount were capped.

For example, if a case only had $50,000 in economic damages, and the limit of non-economic recovery were $250,000, it may not be worth it for the lawyer to take the case becasue it may cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars to prosecute the claim. So even patients who have minimal economic damages can seek justice through a medical malpractice lawsuit in New York