After an Iowa birth injury medical malpractice jury returned its record-setting $97 million verdict against an Iowa medical clinic that led to the Iowa legislature imposing a cap on damages in medical malpractice cases, both the clinic and the Plaintiffs in the birth injury medical malpractice case have filed lawsuits against the clinic’s medical malpractice insurer, MMIC, alleging that MMIC acted in bad faith and pressured the clinic to file for bankruptcy so that the Iowa legislature would consider and approve tort reform legislation to limit damages in Iowa medical malpractice cases that the insurer had sought for many years.
The clinic’s attorney for the bad faith lawsuit stated with regard to the clinic’s lawsuit filed against MMIC on November 21, 2023: “This is a badly behaved insurance company that has a long history of bad behavior in Iowa. MMIC needs to be held accountable for perverting their duties to insured Iowans, and for it’s successful efforts to defraud Iowa lawmakers into passing legislation that fundamentally violates the constitutional rights of Iowa healthcare patients.”
On November 28, 2023, the attorneys for the birth injury plaintiffs filed their own lawsuit against MMIC in which they allege MMIC acted in bad faith, alleging that the Plaintiffs are still owed $65 million from the judgment, stating “The arrogance of MMIC is well beyond anything I’ve ever seen in my 45 years as a lawyer. They never offered a penny (to settle), even though the doctors desperately wanted the case to settle.” The bad faith lawsuit reportedly references emails between the clinic’s attorneys before trial showing that the defendant physicians were attempting without success to get MMIC to agree to negotiate a settlement with the Plaintiffs.
As a result of the $97 million judgment against the clinic, the clinic sold itself to Mercy Hospital Iowa City and the clinic’s shareholder physicians became employees of Mercy Hospital Iowa City, losing out on their anticipated profits and benefits as the clinic’s owners in the future.
The two lawsuits filed against MMIC (one by the attorneys for the Plaintiffs in the underlying Iowa medical malpractice birth injury case and the other by the defendant clinic that was held liable for $97 million in damages) have resulted in a dispute as to the proper party to bring the bad faith lawsuit against MMIC. In addition, the medical malpractice defense law firm that represented the clinic during the birth injury medical malpractice litigation and trial is also in hot water and faces allegations against it. See tomorrow’s blog posting for more information regarding these issues.
If you or a loved one may have been harmed as a result of medical negligence in Iowa or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find an Iowa medical malpractice lawyer or a medical malpractice lawyer in your state who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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