High - Low agreements must be disclosed in NY
I am not aware of this being the law for medical malpractice cases in Illinois yet but based on this unanimous ruling in NY I think plaintiff's lawyers should ere on the side of full disclosure.
“Fairness dictates that all parties involved in a multi-defendant liability action must be notified when any one of them reaches a high-low agreement with the plaintiffs to cap their exposure in the event of an adverse award ruling, the New York Court of Appeals determined Wednesday. Garlock Sealing Technologies was ‘deprived of its right to a fair trial’ because it did not know its co-defendant in an asbestos exposure case, Niagara Insulations Inc., had reached a high-low agreement with the plaintiff, the court ruled unanimously in Matter of Eighth Judicial District Asbestos Litigation, 89. The court ordered a new trial for Garlock.”
Joel Stashenko, New York Law Journal, Law.com 6/28/07
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1182935160762
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