How this estimate is built
Your medical expenses and lost wages are your economic damages. We apply the multiplier method, the industry-standard approach, to estimate noneconomic damages — then apply Wisconsin's fault rule and check whether its malpractice cap genuinely applies.
One threshold, two very different rules
Under Wis. Stat. § 895.045, Wisconsin bars recovery only when a claimant's fault is greater than 50% — exactly 50% fault still allows recovery, reduced proportionally. The same 51% line does double duty: a defendant found 51% or more at fault is jointly and severally liable for the entire award, while a defendant found less than 51% at fault is severally liable only for their own proportionate share. A claimant's negligence is also compared separately against each defendant, so a claim could be barred against one defendant while surviving against another in the same case.
A damages cap with a real courtroom history
Wisconsin caps noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases at $750,000 per occurrence under Wis. Stat. § 893.55. An earlier $350,000 version of this cap was struck down as unconstitutional by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2005 (Ferdon). The legislature responded by raising the cap to $750,000 — and a state appeals court later struck that figure down too, following the same reasoning. But the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed, explicitly overruling its own 2005 decision and upholding the $750,000 cap as constitutional. Economic damages remain fully recoverable with no cap at all.
A fund that guarantees the uncapped side
Wisconsin's Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund guarantees payment of 100% of economic damages in a malpractice case — a backstop that exists specifically because the noneconomic side carries a cap.