The cap on awards for malpractice lawsuits in Virginia will go up $50,000 a year for the next 20 years, following a recent compromise between trial lawyers and physicians in the Commonwealth.

Incremental increases to the cap had been made previously. But once the cap reached $2 million, physicians argued that further increases would result in higher malpractice insurance premiums, while the state’s trial lawyers, who represent injured patients, disputed that one would automatically follow the other.