Constitutionality of Noneconomic Caps May be Tested by Ohio Supreme Court

The question of whether Ohio's cap on noneconomic and punitive damages in civil lawsuits is constitutional is headed for the state Supreme Court more quickly than expected. U.S. District Judge David Katz of Toledo asked the state's high court Wednseday to decide on the legality of the cap because it could affect a lawsuit before him in which Ohio litigants are suing Ortho Evra, alleging the company's birth control patch caused serious side effects or death. If the state court agrees to decide the issue - it has the option of declining - the ruling's impact would be very important on civil cases statewide, according to attorneys involved in the patch case. Because supporters and opponents of damage caps on civil suits have long said that, until the state Supreme Court rules on whether the legislature's caps are constitutional, the limits' impact on insurance rates, premiums, and other costs is uncertain.

The Ohio General Assembly in recent years passed two laws capping damage awards by juries. The first affected medical malpractice awards and capped noneconomic damages at $1 million in catastrophic cases and $500,000 in less severe cases. The second law - the one containing caps Judge Katz wants the court to rule on - was passed in 2004 and contains no limits on jury awards in catastrophic cases. But it limits jury awards for pain, suffering, and other intangible, noneconomic damages for noncatastrophic injuries in product liability, personal injury, and other civil lawsuits at $500,000 per injury, $350,000 of which could go directly to the injured person. "The sooner we have the constitutionality test, the sooner the full benefits of laws involving lawsuit abuse reform will flow to the general public," said state Sen. Steve Stivers (R., Columbus), the law's author. Similar damage caps were passed in 1996, but three years later the Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, struck them down as unconstitutional. Under Supreme Court rules, both sides have 20 days to file briefs in support of their positions, but there is no time limit on the court's decision whether to accept the question, let alone issue a final ruling on constitutionality.