Doctors’ Groups Back Health Providers in Top Court Rules Fight

Federal courts sitting in diversity in medical malpractice suits must apply state rules for weeding out frivolous claims, doctors’ groups said in a brief for the US Supreme Court.

The American Medical Association and its Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania counterparts urged the top court to uphold a decision affirming the dismissal of Harold Berk’s medical malpractice case against his Delaware-based health-care providers for failing to file a state-required affidavit of merit. Applicable law and fairness concerns require federal courts to enforce such state statutory requirements, they said Monday in a friend-of-the-court brief.

Affidavits of merit are one of the ...