Personal Injury Caps Upheld
The Ohio Supreme Court upheld caps on damages in personal injury lawsuits in a 5-2 decision issued Thursday.The decision upheld a law approved by the legislature in 2004 that limited jury awards for pain and suffering, mental anguish and other non-economic damages to $350,000 unless the injured person lost a limb or bodily organ.
The court also upheld a cap that limited punitive damages to twice the amount of damages awarded as compensation for injuries.
Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, writing for the majority, noted that the court has repeatedly rejected caps on personal injury lawsuit awards over the last 30 years, finding aspects of various bills adopted by the legislature to be unconstitutional.
But Moyer said the legislation approved three years ago fixed those constitutional problems.
The case stemmed from a lawsuit brought by Melisa Arbino, who sued Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Co. after she suffered blood clots and other medical problems after using a birth control patch manufactured by the company.
Moyer noted that caps on personal injury lawsuits are in dispute in many states but said the court’s role is to determine whether they are constitutional, not whether they are the best public policy.
“The court is not the forum to second-guess such legislative choices,” Moyer wrote.
Justices Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, Maureen O’Connor and Judith Ann Lanzinger joined in the majority opinion. Justice Robert R. Cupp wrote a separate but concurring opinion.
Justices Paul E. Pfeifer and Terrence O’Donnell wrote separate dissenting opinions.
Pfeifer argued that the caps are unconstitutional because they deprive injured people of the benefits of a jury trial.
O’Donnell said the cap on pain and suffering awards “substitutes the judgment of the General Assembly for that of a jury.”