Professional liability

Abstract

"Supina manifesta ed inescusabile colpa ed ignoranza principalmente ex defectu solemnium et formalitatis processus". This was the manner in which the Costituzioni Di Manoel held advocates and legal procurators liable in cases of professional negligence. Though restricting liability considerably it is the only specific reference that Maltese law has ever made to the notion of professional liability in relation to the legal profession. The law of professional liability is being given more and more attention recently due to its ever growing importance in the modern world. The modern professional man is finding himself involved in a considerable amount of professional litigation, the extent of which had not been forseen a couple of years back. This is not to say that the notion of professional liability is something relatively new in the legal field. Far from this, professional people have been held liable for their actions since ancient times. However, modern trends have given a new approach to the subject, tendencies which at times verge on the ridiculous. In one recent American case, a woman who claimed to possess psychic powers sued the doctor who had performed her brain scan, claiming that she had lost her psychic powers to look into the future. The judge instructed the jury to consider only her complaints about an allergic reaction and to ignore the issue of her psychic powers. She was awarded $988,000. Professional litigation has given birth to a rich insurance law on the subject or to Professional Indemnity Insurance as it is better known. The extent and frequency of claims is at times alarming and insurance seems to be the only remedy, bringing with it an enormous increase in premiums. In California obstetricians are paying malpractice premiums of up to fifty thousand dollars a year.