Is there a cap on malpractice payout in Texas?
Asked by: Mathew Leuschke | Last update: September 11, 2025Score: 4.5/5 (50 votes)
Texas has a cap on non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. The cap is $250,000 for healthcare providers and $500,000 for hospitals. We'll explain how this cap works and how it can impact your compensation.
What is the maximum malpractice award in Texas?
Texas law imposes caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. According to the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 74.301, non-economic damages are capped at $250,000 per defendant, with an overall cap of $500,000 if there are multiple defendants.
How much can you get from a malpractice lawsuit in Texas?
Texas law limits the amount awarded for non-economic damages in a medical malpractice claim to $250,000 for all individual doctors or health care providers. The cap for a hospital or healthcare facility is also $250,000, with a maximum of $500,000 if there is more than one facility or hospital liable for damages.
What is the cap on medical malpractice damages in Texas?
Generally, caps in Texas are set at $250,000 for medical malpractice cases involving individuals as well as $500,000 for other personal injury claims. In terms of non-economic damages, Texas has adopted a cap of $750,000 per person with some exceptions.
What is the limit on medical malpractice insurance in Texas?
It is important to note that Texas law generally limits the amount of non-economic damages recoverable in medical malpractice claims to $500,000 in wrongful death claims and $250,000 in other claims.
Texas Medical Malpractice Damages Caps
How much are most medical malpractice settlements?
The median- as opposed to the average – value of a medical malpractice settlement is $250,000. The average jury verdict in malpractice cases won by the plaintiff is just over $1 million.
Is there a statute of limitations on malpractice in Texas?
According to this statute, you generally have two years from the date the malpractice occurred or the date you discovered that malpractice to file a lawsuit against the medical professional or facility for your damages.
What are punitive damages for medical malpractice in Texas?
In Texas civil cases, punitive damages are awarded when the plaintiff and their personal injury attorney can demonstrate negligence by the defendant. What does this mean? This means the at-fault party acted carelessly or failed to take action to prevent harm to others.
What is the cap on pain and suffering damages?
In the 1978 Andrews Trilogy of cases, the Supreme Court set a cap of $100,000 for non-pecuniary injuries following catastrophic or serious bodily injuries. This amount is adjusted for inflation each year. In 2023, the serious impairment cap for pain and suffering damages is approximately $400,000.
Who is the best medical malpractice lawyer in Texas?
The Hastings Law Firm is recognized as a leader in Texas medical malpractice cases. Our founder, Tommy Hastings, is a Board-Certified Personal Injury Trial Lawyer with decades of experience fighting for justice on behalf of injured patients.
Do most malpractice cases settle?
Department of Justice statistics note that 7% of medical malpractice cases end in a trial, so the others either drop their claims or settle. Although, 95% of personal injury claims settle before trial. Settlements do not become part of the public record, while a judgment in a court case is a public record.
How long after a demand letter does a settlement take in Texas?
No uniform timeframe exists between sending the demand letter and arriving at a settlement. In addition to the insurance company's review, there will be negotiations between the insurance company and your attorney, and those can take a long time. You can count on the process taking more than two months.
What's the average legal malpractice settlement amount?
Attorneys may purchase policies with coverage limits as high as $10 million. The average legal malpractice settlement or verdict is nearing $300,000. If your attorney costs you money, they can be liable to pay for it. The last thing that they want is for you to go after their personal assets.
Why is it hard to sue a doctor in Texas?
Texas law has made medical malpractice cases very difficult and expensive to litigate and the caps on compensation mean that it can often cost more to pursue a case than you can receive in damages. These cases also require costly expert review and testimony from medical professionals and many hours of deposition.
What percent of malpractice suits are won?
The findings have been remarkably consistent. Physicians win 80% to 90% of the jury trials with weak evidence of medical negligence, approximately 70% of the toss-up cases, and 50% of the cases with strong evidence of medical negligence [18].
What are the requirements for legal malpractice in Texas?
A legal-malpractice claim in Texas requires four elements: (1) a duty by the attorney to the plaintiff, (2) the attorney's breach of that duty, (3) proximate cause, and (4) damages. The first element, duty, usually exists because of a formal attorney-client relationship.
What is the compensation cap?
Less than 0.4% of applicants receive the maximum limit (the compensation cap) that we can order an employer to pay. The maximum we can order is the lower of these 2 amounts: half of the employee's annual wage OR. the compensation cap, which is $87,500 for 2024-25 and changes on 1 July each year.
Is there a limit to pain and suffering?
Your time starts on the day of the accident. Also, the other limitation is the amount that you, the plaintiff, can sue for. In general, there is no cap on the amount of damages that can be awarded for pain and suffering.
How is compensation calculated for pain and suffering?
Very simply: the more that a person has suffered, and may suffer in the future, the greater the compensation. Generally, compensation paid for pain and suffering is not high as you might think. 'Suffering' includes mental/psychological suffering.
What is the average medical malpractice settlement in Texas?
From those statistics, the average malpractice settlement for 2022 was about $365,000. The average malpractice settlement in Texas in 2022 was about $252,800.
What is the malpractice cap in Texas?
Non-economic damages in Texas malpractice cases, such as those for pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life, are capped at $250,000 for individual healthcare providers and $500,000 for hospitals.
What are the 4 D's of a malpractice lawsuit?
The four Ds of medical malpractice are duty, dereliction (negligence or deviation from the standard of care), damages, and direct cause. Each of these four elements must be proved to have been present, based on a preponderance of the evidence, for malpractice to be found.
How much can you sue a doctor for malpractice in Texas?
The Texas Medical Malpractice and Tort Reform Act severely restricts that amount of damages that medical malpractice victims can obtain for pain and suffering. Non-economic damages against all doctors and health care providers capped at $250,000. Non-economic damages against health care facilities capped at $500,000.
Is medical malpractice the same as negligence?
Negligence is the broader concept, encompassing any deviation from the standard of care expected from a healthcare professional. Medical malpractice is a subset of negligence related to the professional's actions or omissions from the accepted standard of care that resulted in harm.
How long do you have to sue an attorney for malpractice in Texas?
The deadline in Texas to file a legal malpractice case is two years. However, the statute of limitations (the time within which one must file a lawsuit) does not begin to run until a client discovers or should have discovered by exercising reasonable care her cause of action.