Doctors Awarded $156 Million From Norcal Mutual
A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury awarded $156 million in damages Monday to approximately 700 doctors in a case against San Francisco-based Norcal Mutual Insurance Co., according to an attorney for the physicians.
Lawyer Larry Feldman said that the 700 doctors banded together in 1981 to form the Physicians Interindemnity Trust. PIT acted as a malpractice insurance company for the doctors, who split actual losses from such cases among themselves.
In 1995, Feldman said, Norcal offered to take the doctors on as members.
The insurance company said it would use the premiums it earned to form a trust to pay medical malpractice claims that had been handled by PIT.
The doctors accepted, Feldman said, but the trust went into receivership three months later in 1996.
That left the doctors with $56 million in unpaid medical malpractice claims. The doctors sued Norcal and won their case Monday.
Norcal representatives and attorneys could not be reached for comment.
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