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Court: Malpractice law covers doctors' businesses
Press Release |
2013/09/09 11:49
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Businesses formed by doctors are covered by a state law that caps the damages that victims of medical malpractice can collect from health care providers, New Mexico's highest court ruled Thursday.
The state Supreme Court said that medical professional corporations and limited liability companies fall under the law's definition of a health care provider under the state's medical malpractice law.
At issue was whether the 1976 law applied only to licensed physicians, hospitals, outpatient clinics and certain others such as chiropractors. A corporation established by a group of doctors for tax or business purposes isn't licensed, however.
The court said that excluding the businesses formed by medical professionals would undermine the purpose of the law, which was to increase the availability of insurance coverage for malpractice claims. The law was enacted after a large private insurer stopped offering malpractice coverage in the state.
The court said that "covering individuals without offering the same benefits to the companies that they form or operate under disturbs the balanced scheme originally set up by the Legislature that was intended to attract enough health care providers to service the needs of patients in New Mexico and, in turn, ensure that the patients were protected when claims for medical malpractice arise."
The court issued the ruling in deciding three separate malpractice lawsuits.
In 2011, Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed a measure passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature that would have revised the malpractice law to increase its liability caps and make clear that the business organizations of doctors were covered.
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Custody dispute goes to Okla. Supreme Court
Headline Topics |
2013/09/03 19:46
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An Oklahoma man who is seeking custody of his Cherokee daughter has appealed a lower court decision to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Dusten Brown filed a writ of prohibition Friday in Oklahoma Supreme Court. The filing is appealing a decision from Nowata County District Court.
Brown for years has been fighting Matt and Melanie Capobianco of South Carolina over the custody of 3-year-old Veronica.
Veronica's birth mother put her up for adoption. Brown is Veronica's birth father and a member of the Cherokee Nation. He fought the Capobiancos' adoption of Veronica under the Indian Child Welfare Act.
Brown and the Capobiancos were in a Nowata County court Friday, but a gag order meant neither side would comment. |
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Man pleads guilty in bus stop crash that kills 4
Court Watch News |
2013/08/26 23:37
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A 24-year-old man has pleaded guilty to five felony driving under the influence counts stemming from a crash at a Las Vegas bus stop that killed four people last year.
Gary Lee Hosey Jr. awaits sentencing Nov. 1 after accepting a plea agreement with prosecutors Friday in Clark County District Court. He originally faced nine DUI counts.
The deal calls for his sentence to range from 24 to 80 years in prison.
Four people waiting at the bus stop were killed in the Sept. 13 crash. Hosey, four passengers in his car and three other people at the bus stop were injured.
A criminal complaint alleges Hosey's blood-alcohol level exceeded the legal limit of 0.08 percent when his car plowed into the bus stop. |
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Court won't reconsider judicial elections ruling
Headline Court News |
2013/08/21 14:43
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An appellate court panel's decision to allow political parties to endorse candidates and make expenditures in Montana's nonpartisan judicial elections will stand, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday.
None of the 9th Circuit judges voted to rehear the three-judge panel's June decision, so the appellate court denied the state attorney general's petition.
The panel said in June the state's ban on party endorsements and expenditures in judicial races is unconstitutional, but ruled that candidates can't receive direct contributions from parties.
The state filed a petition for rehearing, calling it a matter of exceptional importance in Montana's authority to determine how to maintain an impartial and nonpartisan judiciary.
Montana's system of judicial elections reflects a deeply ingrained and repeatedly confirmed sovereign decision by the state and its voters, Assistant Attorney General Michael Black wrote in the petition.
A decision has not been made whether to take the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, attorney general spokesman John Barnes said.
"We're looking at our options and will be making a decision on how to proceed from here," Barnes said in an emailed response to an Associated Press query. |
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