In 2003 and 2005, the Ohio Legislature, with the support of the insurance industry and many other special interest groups, passed legislation which dramatically reduced the ability of the people of Ohio to receive fair compensation for injuries caused by the negligence of others, including drunk drivers and sexual predators. They did this by capping damages for pain and suffering ranging between $250,000 and $500,000, regardless of what the jury determined the actual amount of damages for pain and suffering to be. Not only did these caps severely limit the ability of juries made up of average Ohio citizens to hold wrongdoers accountable by awarding fair compensation, the unfairness of these caps continually increases over time because they do not increase with the cost of living. Anyone who was alive in 2003 can tell you that the prices of everything, including housing, medical care, and cars, were far lower than they are today. In order to just stay even with the cost of living since 2003, the damage caps should now be $875,000 instead of $500,000 and $437,500 instead of $250,000. Who benefits from this discount on the suffering of injury victims? Among others who benefit are drunk drivers, negligent doctors, reckless truck drivers, and the insurance companies who save millions of dollars because injured persons in Ohio are not fairly compensated.
The Ohio Legislature did provide some small measure of relief in certain cases to avoid the unfairness created by caps on pain and suffering damages. If an injury is caused by the negligent conduct of anyone other than a healthcare provider, there is a small subset of cases that are not subject to the caps. If an injury is “catastrophic’ such as amputation of one or more limbs, paralysis, loss of an organ system, or severe brain injury, the caps on pain and suffering can be lifted. However, if the same injury occurs at the hands of a doctor, the caps still apply, no matter how catastrophic the injury caused by their negligence.
Marine Corps veteran John Paganini, age 94, is challenging the constitutionality of the medical malpractice caps on pain and suffering. John lost an eye due to the negligence of a doctor who had performed cataract surgery in Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Paganini took his claim to a jury in Cuyahoga County in 2021, and they found the doctor negligent and awarded him $1.5 million for pain and suffering. Due to the caps, the Judge was required to reduce the jury award to $500,000. John’s case is now before the Ohio Supreme Court, arguing that the caps that apply to medical malpractice cases are unconstitutional. He wants to correct the unfair situation in which his $1.5 million award would have been upheld if the same doctor had run a red light in his Mercedes, causing an accident, but the award was reduced to $500,000 when that same doctor ran a medical red light while caring for John, resulting in John’s loss of his eye.
We can only hope that the Ohio Supreme Court sides with John Paganini, the Ohio Constitution, and dozens of lower courts by holding the medical malpractice caps unconstitutional. Separately, the Ohio Legislature also has an opportunity to at least reduce the unfairness of all caps on pain and suffering damages. Several Bills have been introduced over the past few years that would increase the caps on pain and suffering damages and make them at least equivalent to what they were when passed in 2003 and 2005. The Ohio Legislature has also considered adding annual increases to the caps based on the increase in the cost of living. Unfortunately, none of these Bills have become law so far. Everyone who is a registered voter should call their representatives to advocate for passing legislation that increases the caps by at least 75% to bring them back in line to where they were in 2003 and to provide annual increases thereafter based on the cost of living. Hopefully, the voices of Ohioans will overcome the money spent by the insurance industry and other special interest groups in trying to keep Ohio’s caps as unfair as they possibly can. Should members of the Legislature not listen to the voices of Ohioans, the only recourse may be for these same Ohioans to go to the ballot in order to bring fairness back to victims of negligence by either increasing the caps on pain and suffering damages or by eliminating them entirely.