Tuesday, September 9, 2014
MS: Is the 2004 Non-Economic Damages Cap Unconstitutional?
On September 24, the Mississippi Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case to determine whether the 2004 non-economic damages cap of $1M is unconstitutional. Circuit Judge Charles Webster so held in a 2011 case seeking damages for the death of a child in an apartment complex fire. The jury awarded the child's parents $6M in non-economic damages. Webster upheld the award and struck down the cap, stating the Mississippi Constitution guarantees every citizen a remedy for an injury done to his lands, goods, person and reputation with that remedy to be determined by a jury. The Miami Herald has the story.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/tortsprof/2014/09/ms-is-the-2004-non-economic-damages-cap-unconstitutional-1.html