BestWeek: Medical Liability Ruling Indicates National Changes.

OLDWICK, N.J. -- A Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that overturned the state's cap on noneconomic damages for medical malpractice may have a nationwide ripple effect.

"This is all part of a national strategy by personal injury lawyers," Gretchen Schaefer, a spokeswoman for the American Tort Reform Association, said in the August 1 BestWeek. "It's called judicial nullification, and it goes around the will of the legislature."

Schaefer said the "judicial nullification" strategy relies on getting "activist" judges to use state constitutions to undo tort reforms made by the legislature. In the Wisconsin case, the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the cap violated the state constitution's equal-protection guarantees because "those who suffer the most severe injuries will not be fully compensated for their noneconomic damages, while those who suffer relatively minor injuries with lower noneconomic damages will be fully compensated" under the cap.

Jeffrey Junkas, spokesman for the American Insurance Association, said the decision gives "opponents of tort reform and caps a little more hope that they can prevail." Junkas said Wisconsin has served as model for other states considering medical-malpractice liability tort reform.

Also in BestWeek, term life insurance accounted for 42% of all life insurance issued in the United States last year. BestWeek reveals how much was issued by each of the top 50 writers of this product, based on data derived from A.M. Best's proprietary database. Similar studies rank the leading writers of homeowners, workers' compensation and commercial auto. Policyholder surplus growth and net premiums earned by property/casualty insurers as well as the benefits paid by leading life insurers are the subject of other statistical studies found only in BestWeek.

Other exclusive content in the August 1 issue of BestWeek:

--A spike in unusual pirate activity that could indicate a terrorism risk prompted a key London market group to include a key international shipping lane on a list of war-risk areas.

--Why New Construction Methods Could Lure Insurers Back to Covering Mold.

--How pricing in the directors and officers insurance market is easing from double-digit rate decreases that had been the norm to the single-digit and flat range.

BestWeek is published by A.M. Best Co. for insurance professionals, including home office executives, agents and brokers.

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