Opinion ID: 1900990
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Heading: Part I: Constitutionality of Florida Patient's Compensation Fund Pay-Out Provisions.

Text: Before evaluating the constitutionality of sections 768.54(2)(b), 768.54(3)(e)3, and 768.51, we must first determine whether section 768.54(3)(e)3 as enacted in 1976, or as amended in 1982, is applicable to this case. The original enactment provides for the Fund to pay, in place of a health care provider, the portion of any judgment which exceeds $100,000, but limits the payment to no more than $100,000 per person per year until the claim has been paid in full. [1] Assuming the 1976 provision is applicable, it is clear that the statute would prohibit the Fund from paying the full amount of the annual medical expenses of Von Stetina, determined by the jury to be $188,400. In 1982, while this cause was pending in the trial court, the cap on payments was eliminated by an amendment to section 768.54(3)(e)3. [2] The amendment did not become effective until two months after the entry of the trial court's judgment, but it has been in effect while this cause has been pending on appeal. The Fund contends that an appellate court must apply the most recent version of the statute when it is the law in effect at the time of the appellate court's final decision. The district court rejected that view, finding that the statutory change affects a substantive matter and that its application to the present case constitutes an impermissible retroactive application. We disagree with the district court. The judgment awarded in favor of Von Stetina is not final until the case has been disposed of on appeal. An appellate court is generally required to apply the law in effect at the time of its decision. See Hendeles v. Sanford Auto Auction, Inc., 364 So.2d 467 (Fla. 1978); Florida East Coast Railway v. Rouse, 194 So.2d 260 (Fla. 1966); Eastern Air Lines, Inc. v. Gellert, 438 So.2d 923 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); Department of Administration v. Brown, 334 So.2d 355 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976). In City of Lakeland v. Catinella, 129 So.2d 133 (Fla. 1961), this Court said: Remedial statutes or statutes relating to remedies or modes of procedure, which do not create new or take away vested rights, but only operate in furtherance of the remedy or confirmation of rights already existing, do not come within the legal conception of a retrospective law, or the general rule against retrospective operation of statutes. Id. at 136 (citing Cunningham v. State Plant Board, 112 So.2d 905 (Fla. 2d DCA), cert. denied, 115 So.2d 701 (Fla. 1959)). We accept the Fund's view that the 1982 amendment to section 768.54 is remedial in nature. The amendment does not alter the size of the judgment in favor of Von Stetina; rather, it prescribes the method by which the judgment is to be paid. We find that the statute simply changes the form of the enforcement and does not substantially impair any existing rights. See Village of El Portal v. City of Miami Shores, 362 So.2d 275 (Fla. 1978). Having determined that we should apply the 1982 version of section 768.54(3)(e)3, we will proceed to consider its constitutionality along with the constitutionality of sections 768.54(2)(b) and 768.51, Florida Statutes (1981). Initially, however, the reason for the creation of the Fund must be fully understood. In 1975, the Florida Legislature instituted the Fund as a non-profit entity to provide medical malpractice protection to the physicians and hospitals who join it, as well as a method of payment to medical malpractice plaintiffs. See ch. 75-9, Laws of Fla. The Fund provides a statutory scheme of pooling the risk of losses and placing major losses in the entity that can best spread the risk of loss as well as control the conduct of those at fault. Department of Insurance v. Southeast Volusia Hospital District, 438 So.2d 815 (Fla. 1983), appeal dismissed, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S.Ct. 1673, 80 L.Ed.2d 149 (1984). In its preamble to the 1976 amendment, the legislature summarized its public policy findings with respect to the need for the enactment. It reads, in part, as follows: WHEREAS, despite the responsive and responsible actions of the 1975 session of the legislature, professional liability insurance premiums for Florida physicians have continued to rise and ... such insurance, even at exorbitant rates, is becoming virtually unavailable in the voluntary private sector, and ... this insurance crisis threatens the quality of health care services in Florida ... and... this crisis also poses a dire threat to the continuing availability of health care in our state .. . and ... our present tort law/liability insurance system for medical malpractice will eventually break down ... [and] fundamental reforms of said tort law/liability insurance system must be undertaken, and ... the continuing crisis proportions of this compelling social problem demand immediate and dramatic legislative action... . Ch. 76-260, Laws of Fla. See also ch. 75-9, Laws of Fla. Von Stetina contends that the legislature cannot constitutionally limit the liability of a health care provider to $100,000 and transfer the responsibility to pay the portion of a judgment which is in excess of $100,000 from the health care provider to the Fund. In addition, she argues the statutory scheme violates the separation of powers by interfering with the authority of the courts to enforce their own judgments. We disagree. The Florida Patient's Compensation Fund provides health care providers with medical malpractice liability coverage for the benefit of both the health care providers and those members of the public who become victims of medical malpractice. In Southeast Volusia Hospital District, we upheld the concept of the Fund and its assessment mechanism. We find the statutory scheme does not deny plaintiffs recovery of judgments, but in fact is designed, in part, to ensure that sufficient funds exist to pay substantial judgments to medical malpractice victims. The scheme that makes the Fund party to a medical malpractice action and responsible for portions of awards in excess of $100,000 does not substantially violate or change any of the plaintiff's vested rights. We caution, however, that we do not address in this action the constitutional right of a plaintiff to levy against a health care provider when the Fund is fiscally incapable of or otherwise prohibited from paying validly entered judgments within a reasonable time because of inadequate rates and assessments. Von Stetina also attacks as unconstitutional section 768.51, which provides for the payment of future medical expenses and future lost wages as they are actually incurred. We find that section 768.51 establishes a reasonable means for medical malpractice victims to recover future losses. Traditionally, future damages resulting from tort liability have been compensated by means of a lump sum judgment. For many years, however, commentators have suggested that legislation providing for periodic payments of future damages in personal injury awards would benefit both plaintiffs and defendants. See National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, Model Periodic Payment of Judgments Act (1980); Henderson, Periodic Payments of Bodily Injury Awards, 66 A.B.A.J. 734 (1980). We find the legislation at issue does not implicate a fundamental right or suspect classification. See Pinillos v. Cedars of Lebanon Hospital Corp., 403 So.2d 365 (Fla. 1981); Woods v. Holy Cross Hospital, 591 F.2d 1164 (5th Cir.1979). Cf. Carson v. Maurer, 120 N.H. 925, 424 A.2d 825 (1980). We strongly adhere to the view that the judiciary may not sit as a superlegislature to judge the wisdom or desirability of legislative policy determinations made in areas that neither affect fundamental rights nor proceed along suspect lines. City of New Orleans v. Dukes, 427 U.S. 297, 303, 96 S.Ct. 2513, 2516, 49 L.Ed.2d 511 (1976). So long as the legislative measure is rationally related to legitimate state interests, we must not substitute our judgment for that of the legislature with respect to the need for, or wisdom of, a legislative enactment. See State v. Bales, 343 So.2d 9 (Fla. 1977). We conclude that the legislature could reasonably find that the increasing costs of medical malpractice insurance posed a threat to the continued availability and adequacy of health care services, and that the public health could be protected by the enactment of the subject measures, which were designed to reform the medical malpractice insurance system. [3] Cf. Pinillos, 403 So.2d at 368. The legislature has designated a source to pay medical malpractice judgments and has created a system of paying future damages. It has not modified the dollar amount of medical malpractice judgments that can be rendered. In our view, such action is within the constitutional prerogative of the legislature. We find nothing in the transfer of liability provision or the periodic pay-out provisions as applied to this case that constitutionally invalidates the statutory scheme. We specifically uphold the constitutionality of sections 768.54(2)(b), 768.54(3)(e)3, and 768.51, Florida Statutes (1981).