Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirms constitutionality of damages cap

About a week ago, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently affirmed the constitutionality of Mississippi's $1 million statutory non-economic damages cap in a case called Learmouth v. Sears, Roebuck. (available here). The court held the statute does not invade the jurys's fact finding function and, thus, does not interfere with a claimant's right to a jury trial.
 
As long time readers of this blog know, I am generally against caps on damages, but, as I have said before, a cap of $1 million is certainly much better than the more common ones that typically cap recovery at amounts much lower than that. So, as caps go, the Mississippi one is quite generous. There is more on the story here.
 

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