Mississippi Tort Reform Faces Constitutional Challenge

This week I’ve been writing about how the state of Mississippi “fixed” its health care problems with tort reform. Mississippi’s tort reform law affects all kinds of personal injury suits, including suits against employers who failed to protect workers from exposure to toxins like asbestos, which can cause asbestos cancer and other severe diseases. The law makes it far more difficult for injured people to file suits and collect damages.

In particular, the law has reduced the rate of medical malpractice lawsuits by nearly 90 percent, which (it is claimed) has “fixed” Mississippi’s health care problems.

However, Mississippi has the worst health care in the nation. This doesn’t seem to be a concern to much of the state’s government, however, particularly Gov. Haley Barbour. Gov. Barbour boasts on his website how effective tort reform has been in “fixing” the state’s health care problems.

But a major plank of the 2004 law, a cap on noneconomic damages, is now being reviewed by the Mississippi Supreme Court. If the Court finds the cap unconstitutional, health care for Mississippians — well, wouldn’t be affected to any degree that anyone would notice. But Gov. Barbour is concerned and fears the state will revert to the bad old days before the 2004 law, when the state’s health care system was, um, probably no worse than it is now. As it is, recently some doctors from Iran came to Mississippi to teach people ways to take care of their health needs without help from the state, which has pretty much abandoned them.

Here’s the case: In January 2007, Ronnie Lee Lymas bought a beverage at a Double Quick convenience store in Belzoni, Mississippi. As he walked out of the store, he was attacked by some men who had been allowed to loiter outside the store. Store employees made no effort to get help for Lymas and stop the fight. Several minutes into the attack, Lymas was shot and injured.

In June 2007, Mr. Lymas filed a complaint of negligence and inadequate security against Double Quick, Inc. Eventually the case went to trial, and in June 2008 a jury found in favor of Mr. Lymas and awarded him $4,179,350.49 in damages. Then Double Quick filed a motion under section of state code that caps noneconomic damages at $1 million in non-medical services actions. And Mr. Lymas filed a motion arguing that the state damage cap code violates several provisions of the Mississippi and United States constitutions.

After a series of denials and dismissals, the motions went to the state Supreme Court. The Brief of Appellee-Cross Appellant Ronnie Lymas argues that the state code capping damages violates the right to trial by jury under the state and federal constitutions and the state constitution’s separation of powers. Further, the brief states, the code violates a provision of the state constitution that says “[A]ll courts shall be open; and every person for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person, or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, and the right and justice shall be administered without sale, denial, or delay.”

There are similar constitutional challenges now being considered by the supreme courts of Missouri and Georgia. A ruling against damage caps by any of these courts would be at least a stumbling block to the “tort reform” movement.

Gov. Haley Barbour filed an amicus brief taking the side of Double Quick. The 2004 damage cap has done wonders for Mississippi’s economy, he insists. Considering Mississippi has the highest percentage of citizens living below poverty level now, one wonders if tort reform “fixed” the economy any better than it “fixed” health care?

— Barbara O’Brien

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 9:19 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.