Glossary · Statute
AB 35
California Assembly Bill 35, signed in May 2022, which amended MICRA to raise the state's noneconomic damages cap and create a tiered, annually escalating cap structure for medical malpractice cases.
Also known as: California AB 35, Assembly Bill 35, MICRA reform 2022
What it is
AB 35 is California Assembly Bill 35, signed by Governor Newsom on May 23, 2022, and effective January 1, 2023. It is the first substantive amendment to the noneconomic damages cap in MICRA since the original statute was enacted in 1975, and it ended decades of unsuccessful reform efforts and a pending ballot initiative.
What it changed
AB 35 replaced MICRA's flat $250,000 noneconomic damages cap with a tiered, annually escalating structure:
- Non-death cases: starting at $350,000, increasing by $40,000 per year until reaching $750,000 in 2033, then indexed for inflation.
- Wrongful-death cases: starting at $500,000, increasing by $50,000 per year until reaching $1,000,000 in 2033, then indexed for inflation.
The statute also clarified that separate caps apply to actions against (1) healthcare providers and (2) healthcare institutions, allowing some plaintiffs to recover above the per-defendant cap when both are sued.
Why it matters
AB 35 was the product of a negotiated compromise between trial-lawyer and healthcare-industry stakeholders that headed off Proposition 14, a ballot initiative that would have indexed the original cap retroactively to 1975. The new cap structure increases recoverable noneconomic damages by roughly 40% in the first year for non-death cases, with substantially more upside as the cap escalates.
In settlement strategy
For any case venued in California, the first step is to identify which cap tier applies (non-death versus wrongful-death) and the exact dollar figure for the year in question. Cases that would have settled at or near the old MICRA ceiling now have measurably higher noneconomic upside.
See Also
- MICRA — California's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975, the country's most influential statute capping noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases.
- Noneconomic Damages — Compensation awarded for non-monetary harm such as pain and suffering, loss of consortium, emotional distress, and diminished enjoyment of life, distinct from economic damages like medical bills and lost wages.
- Damages Cap — A statutory ceiling on the amount a plaintiff can recover for certain categories of damages, most commonly noneconomic damages, in medical malpractice cases.
- Wrongful Death — A statutory civil claim brought by the survivors of a patient who died as a result of medical negligence, governed by state-specific wrongful-death acts that define eligible plaintiffs and recoverable damages.