Wisconsin Supreme Court to decide whether the state's cap on non-economic damages in med mal cases is unconstitutional

The TortsProf blog is reporting that the Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case on appeal from a decision of the state's appellate court which declared the state's cap on non-economic damages unconstitutional.  The case involves a medical malpractice claim which resulted in a jury verdict for the plaintiff.  The jury determined that the health care providers were responsible and awarded $25.3 million. The non-economic damages portion of the award was approximately $16.5 million.  Wisconsin has a cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases of $750,000. The trial judge ruled the cap was unconstitutional as applied to the plaintiff's case. The intermediate appellate court affirmed and went further because it ruled that the the cap was unconstitutional per se (not just "as applied.")  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the story.