Two former psychiatric hospital patients who were sexually abused by one of its employees can collect $6.75 million in noneconomic damages because California’s cap doesn’t apply to suits brought under its elder abuse law, a state appeals court said.
The Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act limits noneconomic damages to $250,000, but there is no similar cap in the state’s Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, the California Court of Appeal, Second District, said.
Noneconomic damages are intended to compensate for injuries that are hard to quantify, like pain and suffering or humiliation.
The two laws have different goals, ...