01/14/2008
CONTACT: Melissa Sharp 202-314-2068
Washington, D.C.--Small-business owners in Ohio, fearful of lawsuits that result in excessive damage awards, can now breathe a sigh of relief due to a recent ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court. The court's decision upheld a critical Ohio law that limits damage awards for pain and suffering claims asserted due to a defective product. The National Federation of Independent Business Legal Foundation filed a friend of the court brief in this case urging the court to find this important law, one that NFIB/Ohio lobbied to pass in the state Legislature, was constitutional and should be enforced.
In 2004, the Ohio General Assembly passed a major multi-subject general lawsuit reform bill (SB 80), which directly tackled the sky-rocketing damages awards that are so problematic with modern-day tort actions. The new law limits the amount of punitive damages recoverable from small employers or individuals to the lesser of two times compensatory damages, 10 percent of the employer's or individual's net worth, or $350,000. Opponents of this law asked the Ohio Supreme Court to declare it unconstitutional, but the court sided with NFIB and small-business owners and determined that the state legislature had the authority to pass lawsuit reform legislation with caps on damage awards.
"This is a very important decision for small-business owners in Ohio and around the country," said Karen Harned, executive director of NFIB. "Many small-business owners fear that one single expensive lawsuit could potentially destroy their business. The Ohio lawsuit abuse reform law gives these small businesses some piece of mind due to the fair limits that will be placed on successful damage award claims. NFIB is very pleased that the Ohio Supreme Court upheld this critical law and hopes other states will take action and pass similar lawsuit reform legislation."
The case decided was Arbino v. Johnson & Johnson.
