The Supreme Court’s decision in Berk v. Choy resolves a circuit split by holding that state affidavit-of-merit requirements for medical malpractice claims do not apply in federal court. These statutes, which require plaintiffs to submit expert affidavits attesting to the merit of their claims before filing suit, are common in about half of U.S. states and aim to filter out meritless claims early. However, the Court ruled that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8, which requires only a “short and plain statement” of the claim, preempts these state laws in federal diversity cases, confirming the approach the Fourth Circuit adopted in 2021.

For practitioners and litigants, Berk means that plaintiffs filing medical malpractice suits in federal court nationwide can bypass the upfront affidavit-of-merit hurdle required in state courts, lowering the barrier to filing suit. Nonetheless, plaintiffs still need expert proof to survive later stages like summary judgment, so obtaining an affidavit early remains a prudent strategy. Defendants lose an early screening tool but retain procedural mechanisms to challenge claims as litigation proceeds. Overall, Berk aligns federal malpractice pleading standards across jurisdictions, benefiting plaintiffs by simplifying initial filing requirements while preserving defendants’ ability to contest claims later.