Day on Torts
The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that the constitutionality of the artifical cap on non-economic damages in tort cases should not be examined by the courts until after a plaintiff receives a verdict in excess of the cap.
The decision comes in the Clark case out of Chattanooga. The trial judge in that case ruled that the caps were unconstitutional. Tennesssee’s High Court said the ruling was premature. The Order can be reviewed by clicking on the link below
From a practical standpoint, this means that a supreme court review of the caps is at least two years off. Why? Because that is how long it takes, on average, from a verdict to go through the entire appellate process. It is possible that a case with a verdict over the caps is in the pipeline right now but I have not heard of such a pending case. Please let me know via a comment if you are aware of one.
Thanks to Jon Peeler for bringing this Order to my attention.