Is Justice Served When Damages are Capped?

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is taking on a case that deals with caps on damages. A Wisconsin couple received compensation of $25.3 million dollars from a jury that heard their medical malpractice case and held the defendants accountable for their negligent acts. As a result of the Defendants’ acts, a woman lost both her arms and legs. The Defendants want to reduce $16.5 million of her compensation, which represents her pain and suffering and damage to her marital relationship, to $750,000 which is Wisconsin’s cap on noneconomic damages. For more on this case, read here.

Would $750,000 compensate you for the pain and suffering of losing both your arms and legs and what it would do to your personal relationships? Our founding fathers got it right when they recognized that our citizens should have a chance to be heard and to try their cases to a jury of their peers. That is the best way to achieve justice in each individual case. “Caps on damages” makes for a good political soundbite, but when you look at the individual lives impacted by the negligent acts of others, the unfairness of such arbitrary caps is obvious.

Thankfully, in Georgia our Supreme Court struck down $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages back in 2010. As a result, juries determine the appropriate amount of compensation based on the evidence presented at a trial.