Missouri Wrongful Death Lawsuit Limits Upheld

The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that caps on how much money someone can win in a wrongful death lawsuit do not violate the state’s constitution.

In the decision issued on April 19, the justices said a person’s right to a jury trial in those cases is not violated by limiting damages for noneconomic factors such as pain and suffering.

In this case, Dodson v. Ferrara, the jury awarded $9 million in noneconomic damages for a wrongful death following a medical procedure.

At issue in the case was a heart test that St. Louis-area cardiologist Dr. Robert Ferrara performed on Shannon Dodson in 2011 that blocked blood flow in her heart and required emergency surgery. Dodson, 34, died the same day.

State law required the jury award to be reduced to $350,000.

Republicans have championed lawsuit restrictions as a way to make the state more attractive to businesses and health care providers.

In the past the state Supreme Court has rolled back some of those limits, such as medical malpractice caps. In a personal injury case in 2012, the Court ruled caps on noneconomic damages unconstitutional, saying the limits violated the right to a jury trial that had existed under common law when Missouri’s first constitution was adopted in 1820.

However, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon in 2015 signed a new measure capping some damage awards in medical malpractices cases.

Under the bill passed last year, noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering, would be capped at $400,000 in most medical personal injury cases.

Measurable economic damages, such as medical costs resulting from the injury and lost wages, would not be subject to the limits.

For “catastrophic” cases defined in the bill, including paralysis, loss of vision and brain injury, the cap would be $700,000.

The bill also doubled the existing cap in wrongful death cases from $350,000 to $700,000.