Posted on Tuesday, November 1st, 2016 at 9:18 pm
This election day, Arkansans were set to vote on an amendment to the state’s constitution that would have allowed the state legislature to impose limits on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases and limit attorney contingency fees to one third of the total amount awarded.
The proposed amendment met resistance from the Arkansas Bar Association, which created a group that opposed the amendment in a lawsuit filed in August. The suit argued that the amendment’s wording on the ballot was misleading and did not describe its effect adequately should it have been passed. The State’s Supreme Court agreed, and struck down the ballot measure on October 13th.
Attorney Joey McCutchen, Akransas Trial Lawyers Association President-Elect and IMPACT Chair, penned an article for the association’s quarterly journal, the ATLA Docket. In it, he describes how this amendment would have stripped away basic rights of ordinary citizens while consolidating the power of big businesses and special interests.
You can read the full text here.
