Fifth Circuit Affirms Constitutionality of Non-Economic Damage Caps
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We’ve just learned, thanks to a head’s up from Skadden‘s Elliott Davis, that the Fifth Circuit today affirmed the constitutionality of Mississippi’s $1 million statutory non-economic damages cap. InLearmouth v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., No. 09-60651, slip op. (5th Cir. Feb. 27, 2013), the court rejected challenges based on:
(1) The “inviolate” right to jury trial under the Mississippi constitution. The statute does not invade the jurys’s fact finding – indeed the jury isn’t even told about the statute. The judge simply reduces the award in accordance with the “legal effect” of the cap. Slip op. at 13-14.
(2) There is no derivative constitutional right to a dollar-for-dollar conversion of a verdict into an enforceable judgment, as the legislature may revise legal remedies. Id. at 14-20.
(3) Separation of powers under the Mississippi constitution. Since the statute sets a non-discretionary limit on legal remedies, it is not an invalid legislatively-enacted procedural rule. Slip op. at 20-22. Nor does it invade a “core” function of the judicial branch. Id.at 22-25. The legislature has a right to make changes to substantive law. Id. at 23.
Read original articleTags: Fifth Circuit, Mississippi, Roebuck & Co., Sears
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