The doctors and lawyers are at it again. We've been keeping tabs on formidable foes clashing over the $250,000 cap on pain and suffering damage awards in medical lawsuits, imposed by the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act, also called MICRA. Today, supporters of raising the cap take their case to legislative staff.

In the good cop/bad cop, fix-it-through-legislation vs. expensive-ballot-battle split, Consumer Attorneys of California is playing the reasonable party advocating the legislative route. (Consumer Watchdog drafted the language for the looming ballot measure.) The group is hosting a legislative briefing in the state Capitol today on the cap and, presumably, why it should be raised.

Speakers will include Jay Angoff, former Director of the U.S. Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, lobbyist Barry Broad and Bob Pack, who lost two children to a driver with a prescription drug abuse problem and has filed the ballot measure under the auspices of Consumer Watchdog. From 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in room 437.