Cap Held Unconstitutional in Illinois
Although the Mississippi Supreme Court rarely pays great credence to out-of-state precedent, its ongoing consideration of caps on quality-of-life damages merits mention that the Illinois Supreme Court has struck down its state's cap as unconstitutional.
The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog reports that at least three other state high courts (in addition to Mississippi's, which isn't mentioned in the post) currently are considering caps on non-economic damages. I'm not familiar with those cases, but Thursday's 4-2 decision in Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital goes straight to the central issue before the Mississippi Supreme Court: whether the cap oversteps the bounds in place under the notion of separation of powers.
Defendants stress that the General Assembly has the authority to change the common law, which the General Assembly has regularly exercised, and that invalidating [the cap] undermines that authority and calls into question this court’s precedents upholding statutes that limit a plaintiff’s damages.The issue is not whether the General Assembly may change the common law. As we [have] recognized . . . , the General Assembly’s authority to alter the common law and change or limit available remedies is well grounded in the jurisprudence of this state. The General Assembly’s authority, however, is not absolute; it must be exercised within constitutional bounds. Here, the legislature’s attempt in [the cap] to limit common law damages in medical malpractice actions runs afoul of the separation of powers clause.
Lebron, Nos. 105741, 105745 cons. at *20 (Ill. Feb. 4, 2010) (citations and quotations omitted).
Tip o' the hat to an attentive Attorney @ Blog reader.
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