Monday, January 19, 2015

Indiana Court of Appeals upholds constitutionality of damages cap -- UPDATED

A few days ago, the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of that state's damages cap for claims against the state which sets the limit for compensation at $700,000 per person and $5 million per incident.  Unfortunately, I don't have more details so I can't comment fully.  I will say this:  I assume that the cap is on non economic damages and not on all damages but I am not sure.  Based on that assumption, I will repeat what I have said in the past.  I am not in favor of caps (and certainly not of a cap that limits out of pocket expenses and other economic damages), but compared to most other states I know of, this cap is relatively generous.  Compare it to the limit in California which is set at $250,000.  (A proposal to increase that cap failed late last year but may be revised again this year.)

Thanks to the TortsProf blog for the update on Indiana.

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