218 Mich. App. This should be resolved when McDougall , which is on the Supreme Court's October 1998 calendar, is decided. The criteria the court is to apply favor opinions based on scientific testing, using generally accepted methodologies for which error rates are understood, that are subject to peer review and are generally accepted by other scientists, especially outside of the context of litigation. An important aspect of this provision is that it forces the court to rule not only on the qualifications of the expert, but on the merits of the opinion. Any jury award in excess of this amount will be reduced by the court.
Questions still exist about the applicable date of the cap.
The original bill provided that the cap would not apply to causes of action arising before October 1, 1993. Michigan allows a bill passed by a sufficient margin to become law immediately, but other bills become law 90 days after the end of the legislative term, as this bill did on April 1, 1994. Because the October 1993 date would have retroactively affected a substantial right, the courts will probably hold that the law only applies to causes of action arising on or after April 1, 1994. In addition, an apparent drafting error may move the effective date to March 28, 1996. The language explaining how a judge is to apply the cap to a jury's verdict is found in Mich. Comp.